HYDERABAD: People who bade goodbye to the Cantonment long back, a man who has been dead and gone for five years, families with names of all their members repeated at least once - the revised electoral rolls of the Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB) has all the trappings of bureaucratic bungling.

Surprisingly, though there are just four days left for publication of the final electoral rolls, the number of complaints lodged with SCB over anomalies in the revised electoral rolls is just one. Tuesday is the last day for hearing and disposal of objections to the additions and deletions made to the mother roll.

Inconsistencies

A cursory glance through the additional list for Ward No.1 and a comparison of the same with the mother roll throws up several inconsistencies. For instance, in Part 9 of the list, T.V. Narayana Swamy (House No.1-9-31/A) is a voter listed with serial number 737. Political parties, in this case without any discord, point out that Swamy, a bill collector with the Kukatpally municipality, passed away five years ago. In fact, they say Swamy's son T. Venkatesh was given a compassionate appointment in lieu of his father's demise. Still, Swamy remains a voter for the Cantonment Board, which means there has been no proper verification, neither door-to-door nor during revision.

P. Sathi Reddy (Serial No. 401and House No.1-3-279 on the mother roll, Part 9) has his name repeated thrice with a slight change in the additional list, where the serial number is 52 and the house number has changed to 1-3-284. The seven member-family of K. Jayaraj (Sl.No.645, H.No.1-9-126) has all names repeated, with the only difference being that the serial number in the additional list is 408 instead of 645 on the mother roll.

The consequences, party sources caution, is that since there are no mistakes in personal details of the names that have been repeated, the person can vote as many times as his name is mentioned. That is, if he has the intention of doing so. "No ink or scrutiny can stop those whose names have been repeated with slight changes in either the serial number or the house number since the other details are correct," they argue.

SCB's head superintendent O.Gajjaram says the Board has so far received only one complaint, which is in regard with the mother roll. "That is being verified. As for other discrepancies, if there are any, we cannot do anything unless there is a complaint lodged," he says.

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