CHENNAI: There are only about 1,500 names each in the Kancheepuram and the Gummudipoondi Assembly Constituencies under category 999 in the electoral rolls which could not be deleted, Chief Electoral Officer Naresh Gupta said on Tuesday.

In a press release, he said that in other cases, the names have already been deleted and this is reflected in the supplementary rolls under the head "deletions".

The Presiding Officers are being instructed to be doubly cautious before allowing electors listed under 999 category to exercise their franchise by thoroughly checking their identity.

The polling agents of the candidates in the polling station are free to challenge the identity of the elector. In view of the by-elections in the Gummudipoondi and the Kancheepuram Assembly Constituencies, a compressed schedule was prescribed for the revision of rolls. This made it difficult to follow the entire procedure and directions prescribed by the Election Commission, he said.

For the cases originally listed under 999 where the names have been deleted, after following the procedure, the persons will not be allowed to vote even if they possess the Elector's Photo Identity Card.

Such persons would have moved to locations different from the one where they were originally listed and did not apply for inclusion in the new place of residence.

Mr. Gupta said there was apprehension with regard to the possibility of entries in section 999 being utilised for bogus voting by setting up impersonators.

"It has become imperative to de-mystify the position in regard to entries in this separate house-999 in the rolls. While doing the exercise of revision of rolls in the course of verification of house numbers by the field staff in the Constituencies covered by summary revision, a number of cases were found where the electors could not be identified with reference to their names or and the house numbers. Such entries were listed in a separate section 999 at the end of the relevant parts of the electoral rolls for the Constituencies", he added.

The intention of this listing was to follow the procedure enjoined by the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960 and the instructions of the Election Commission of India, according to which a list of such cases ought to be given to the political parties, residents welfare associations, grama sabhas for reading out in their meetings and should be served notices through postmen.

This safeguard was to ensure that deletions are not carried out without due care and also to avoid the possibility of complaints of the kind made after the General Elections in 2004, he added.

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