Chaos at booths, voters return dejected as names go missing

Tribune News Service
Jammu, April 11

Chaos and confusion reigned at most of the polling stations in Jammu city and other areas in the Jammu-Poonch parliamentary seat as the names of voters were missing from lists.

Dejected voters had to return home without casting their vote as they were told by the election staff that their names did not figure in the voter lists. The election staff neither entertained their Aadhaar and voter identity cards, nor did they help the voters find their names in the lists. 

Frustrated voters, some of whom had been waiting for three hours in the queue to cast their vote, had to go back.

One such instance was reported at polling booth 138 at Zila Sainik Board, Amphalla, where several persons, after waiting for too long to cast their vote, had to return. 

Senior university professor Deepsheekha Kotwal spent three hours at the Amphalla polling booth. She showed her voter identity card and spelt out her serial number to the election officials, but to no avail. She was told that her name is not in the list.

“I went to the polling station at 9 am and stayed there for three hours but I could not cast my vote. I had informed the polling agent concerned four days ago that my name was shown as deleted but none of the officials tried to resolve the issue. Finally, I was told that I should go to Janipur,” the professor told The Tribune. Janipur is at least 3 km from Amphalla. 

“This is happening to us who have been casting their vote at this polling booth for decades,” she said, adding that the staff instead of helping her and many others, whose names were not in the list, smirked as they left the polling booth. 

“I met at least six officials concerned but they failed to resolve the issue,” she said. 

At the polling booth in Gandhi Nagar, voters who had turned up early morning were told that their names were not in the list. In many cases, the votes were transferred to other booths. The requests and protests by voters did not evoke any response.

Many voters complained that they were not given their election slips. They kept on waiting for the slips to be delivered at their homes. To ensure that they exercise their right to vote, they walked miles to the polling booths, but their names were missing. Even their calls to the election officials yielded no response.

“It appeared as if this was a conspiracy to deny us our voting right,” many voters, who could not vote, said.

In the Satwari area of Jammu, several persons didn’t find their names in the lists and were not allowed to cast their vote. People complained that many dead people were included in the voter lists.

Reports of EVM malfunctioning in Poonch 

A problem was reported in electronic voting machines (EVMs) at two dozen places in Poonch district. At Shahpur in Poonch, people complained that when they pressed the Congress button on the EVM, it did not work, triggering protests. Later, the election staff replaced the EVMs. At the Dhan panchayat of the Nagrota Assembly segment, one of the EVMs had developed a technical snag, which delayed the voting for two hours. Some voters went back without 

casting their vote. The Congress and the National Conference have urged the Election Commission of India to probe the reason behind the faulty EVMs. Congress spokesperson Ravinder Sharma said: “We have received reports about the malfunctioning of EVMs. It seems that it was a deliberate attempt to favour a particular candidate. It is matter of serious concern.”