Prakash Belawadi is an active theatre personality, writer and a household name for Bangaloreans. But, the BBMP could not locate his name on the voters’ list, and they blamed it on the latest updated software.
An active member of the Residents’ Welfare Association of Sunkenahalli in South Bangalore, Belawadi will be contesting from that area, representing the Loksatta party.
“Mine was not the only name missing from the list,” Belawadi said. “There are five other voters in my house and none of them exists as per the list,” he said. “Since I have a social network, I tried to get my name on the voters’ list. But what about the common man? Is this how a public organisation works?” he asked, expressing his disappointment with the civic authorities.
His EPIC number also did not find a mention on the list. The BBMP searched for his name on the list, but in vain.“I searched for his name on the list for two hours at the Jayanagar BBMP office,” said Anand Varadaraj, campaign manager for Belawadi.
“The officials there told me it may have been deleted during the door-to-door survey. The extract of the voters’ list is important for
filing nomination,” he said.
Belawadi and his team then went online to smartvote.in and checked for his name on the Pluma Smart Voters List. He searched for his name using his first name and his door name, and found that the name was wrongly spelt as ‘Prakashbelavadi’ on the list.
“The limitations of BBMP’s voters’ list are many. Official information about the lists can be obtained from the website only if we search for it in the manner it has been spelt or ‘misspelt’,” said Prithivi Reddy of Smartvote campaign.
“This is due to the data-entry process and translations. Unless one knows the EPIC number or the way his/her name has been officially recorded on the list, finding the name or the polling booth address would be difficult,” Reddy said.
However, the state election commission (SEC) claimed that its list was the up to date. “We are using the voters’ list that was available during the assembly elections, which took place last year,” a senior SEC official said.
“After that, revenue officials of the BBMP did a door-to-door survey to update the list. Ours is the most updated list, which has become a model for state election commissions in Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim,” the official said.
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