CPI(M) condemns EC for showing ineptness in preparation of voters list

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The State unit of CPI(M) today come down heavily on the Election Commission of India after finishing electoral roll for Shimla Municipal Corporation election for faulty and missing of number of voters in the list. Incumbent Mayor and Deputy Mayor Sanjay Chauhan and Tekinder Singh Panwar conveyed a press conference to deplore the State Election Commission for showing complete ineptness in the preparation of the voters list for the Shimla MC region.

 

There is complete chaos and mess up in the list where the names of the large section of the people is missing. The party has stated, the population of the city is crossing 2 lakhs and by any estimate the total number of voters should cross 1 lakh and 20 thousand, however only 63 thousand voters have been shown in the voters list. This shows that over 50 pet cent of the genuine people have been kept out because of lackadaisical attitude, sheer callousness and deliberate attempt to ensure that section of the informal sector labour is kept out.

 

It could be believed that the new merged areas where de-limitation has taken place, error in the list could be justified , however, even in the old wards where no delimitation has taken place there is large scale discrepancy owing to genuine voters being left out, the dead finding place and the live missing out. A cursory look at the voters list shows a definite trend of sheer callousness. In Kaithu ward for example the entire locality of St Marks church where over 50 people live is left out. Similarly, many Councillors don’t figure in the list. In over 22 booths there are just 5 or 10 voters.

 

In the new Sangti ward (ward carved out from the erstwhile Malyana) where there should have been over 2400 voters only 1200 are registered. Interestingly in Sangti ward voters from Dhobi Ghat and new flowerdale localities which are part of Malyana ward have been incorporated in Sangti ward thus reducing the number further once this deletion takes place. Similarly cases of criss-cross voters’ enrolment is rampant. For example Chiranjee Lal Kashyap the former MLA from Kusumpti constituency who resides in Totu ward finds his name in Kaithu ward. Similarly, Sanjay Gupta Executive Engineer PWD Shimla from Chakkar and Chandla of Van Chum computers again residing in Chakkar find their names in Kaithu ward.

 

Likewise areas belonging to Panchayats namely Pujarli, Sargeen  area etc. have been incorporated in the voter list of Panthaghati. Villages that were part of Shimla MC since British times like Andheri in Summer hill etc. have been kept out and a chunk of over 500 voters are missing. Similarly young voters including students residing in localities and hostels are completely missing in the voters list.

 

The CPI(M) has decided to represent the state election commission and will also hold a protest demonstration for: Complete door to door revision of electoral rolls of Shimla MC akin to the election commission of India procedure. Ample time not less than one month should be done to complete this exercise. The present notification of electoral process must be withdrawn immediately.

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ML Verma is a Senior journalist, with more than a decade of experience of active reporting for electronic media, news agencies and fast paced online media.

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