Karnataka - Mysore   

Voters run from booth to booth in vain

— PHOTO: M.A. SRIRAM

Disappointed: A group of women, whose names did not figure in the voters’ list, display their voter’s card and other documents in Mysore city on Saturday.

MYSORE: Widespread confusion over the voters’ list prevailed in many parts of the city on Saturday with many eligible voters going from one booth to another to locate their names.

The officials manning the polling booths expressed their helplessness in the matter and laid the blame on the hurried revision of electoral rolls carried out after the delimitation exercise.

During the revision of electoral rolls, the authorities had rearranged the voters list allocated for polling booths, leading to confusion among the voters. Though a few were lucky to find their names in neighbouring booths, many went home frustrated without casting their votes. Several voters, who had exercised their franchise during the elections to Mysore City Corporation in September 2007, were disappointed not to find their names in the voters’ list. Ironically, many who could not vote, possessed valid voters’ photo identity cards duly issued by the Election Commission of India.

The confusion over voters’ list prevailed almost all over the city with a large number of voters milling around the kiosks outside the polling booths and scouring the voters’ list to locate their names.

An employee of University of Mysore, Mariswamy and his wife Pushpa, had been casting their votes all these years and even exercised their franchise during the recently held Corporation polls. But, they were shocked to find their names missing in the voters’ list on Saturday. Mr. Mariswamy, who had checked the electoral rolls a few weeks ago and found his name missing, had taken the trouble to go to the officials and register his and his wife’s name again. “I even took an acknowledgement,” he said.

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