EC should think of repoll if many voters were left out, says ex-CEC

MUMBAI: Former chief election commissioners (CEC) have expressed concern at the manner in which lakhs of names were dropped from the voters' list in Mumbai during the general election this year.

They were addressing a thanksgiving function held in their honour by the Shanmukhananda Sabha at Kings Circle on Saturday evening. The line-up included former CECs M S Gill, T S Krishnamurthy, J M Lyngdoh, Navin Chawla and S Y Quraishi. T N Seshan and state election commissioner Neela Satyanarayana could not arrive owing to ill health, while 80-year-old Gopalaswamy was away taking an exam in cultural studies.

"In Mumbai, Pune and Hyderabad, entire buildings have been excluded. It is good to include new voters but you cannot omit people who have been voting for a long time," Lyngdoh said. "I think the problem stems from over-dependence on computers. The computer will not delete a single name, it will delete thousands. It is hard work putting everybody on the electoral rolls by going door to door, but there is no substitute."

Krishnamurthy told TOI, "It is unfortunate to see so many voters being dropped. But in such situations, there are things the EC should do. It should consider a re-poll if a large number of names are missing in a particular constituency. Then like New Zealand, it can allow people to vote even if their names are not on the list as long as they have a valid voter ID card."

He suggested that the EC set up a permanent voters' registration counter, at least in the four metropolitan cities. "We only invite enrolment during election season. In Sweden, however, the income- tax department handles year-round registrations," Krishnamurthy said.

However, Chawla felt voters should have done due diligence. "The EC conducts an annual review each January, mainly to enrol 18-year-olds. In Mumbai, officials went to each home and left messages for residents who were away. Out of 30 lakh voters, 27 lakh responded while three lakh failed to register. How can the EC alone be blamed?" he said, disappointed how in 2009, after the 26/11 attacks, Mumbai threw up a voting percentage of merely 41%.

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