Can't give reason for missing name on list: EC tells Mumbai voter

As Mumbaikars stepped out to vote for the six Lok Sabha seats in the city, thousands of them were disappointed to find out that their names were missing from the electoral list. [caption id=“attachment_1497327” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Not on the list: Thousands of voters complained they could not vote as their names were not on the electoral list. AFP[/caption] Only 52.6% turned up for voting across Mumbai with thousands complaining that they were not allowed to exercise their right due to the ‘inefficient system’ of the Election Commission. On their part, the Maharashtra Election Commission’s Deputy Director-General Sudhir Tripathi said it was not their fault. “We published the draft lists in the newspapers. We shared it with parties. We asked voters to check their names. We had a special camp to enrol voters till 9 March. We made it clear to the people of Maharshtra that it is not enough to just have a voter ID card, their names have to be in the new rolls if they are to be allowed to vote," he told Mumbai Mirror. However, Election Commissioner HS Brahma apologised for the missing names saying the commission will order a probe. Ananya Sharma, a voter from Worli, demanded that the presiding officer at the polling booth explain why her name was not on the list despite her providing all the necessary documents in time. The commission, in its reply, had no reasons as to why her name was not on the list. This is what the assistant electoral register officer had to say in a letter to Sharma, which she shared with Firstpost: “After we inspected your form in front of you, we determined that your form was rejected even though all the documents were provided. We could not provide you any reason for your rejection of your form. Due to closing of the voting list, we cannot add your name to the voters list and therefore you cannot vote in the Lok Sabha Elections, 2014.” Firstpost, however, cannot vouch for the authenticity of the letter.