Blog: Indian voters disappointed as names missing from list

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Blog: Indian voters disappointed as names missing from list
ANI

The voting for the remaining 60 seats will be held on May 19.

By Web Report (With inputs from IANS)

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Published: Sun 12 May 2019, 6:44 AM

Last updated: Sun 12 May 2019, 11:36 PM

Indians are voting in the next-to-last round of 6-week-long national elections, marked by a highly acrimonious campaign with Prime Minister Narendra Modi flaying the opposition Congress party rival Rahul Gandhi for the country's ills.
Ahead of the commencement of polling in West Bengal on Sunday, three BJP workers were attacked in separate incidents, officials said.
In East Medinipur, BJP workers Ananta Guchait and Ranjit Maity were shot at last night in Bhagabanpur area. The injured were admitted to a hospital soon after the incident and are undergoing treatment. Meanwhile, BJP worker Raman Singh was found dead in Gopiballabpur area of Jhargram.
Polling in West Bengal in almost all the phases has been marred by violence, primarily due to clashes between BJP and TMC workers.
Sunday's voting in 59 constituencies, including seven in the Indian capital, will complete polling for 483 of 543 seats in the lower house of Parliament. The voting for the remaining 60 seats will be held on May 19.
Votes will be counted on May 23.
Turnout in the first five phases averaged 67 per cent, nearly the same as in 2014 elections that brought Modi to power.
Opinion polls say Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party continues to be the front-runner, but it is likely to return with a lesser number of 282 seats.

Latest updates:

4.52pm
Voters disappointed as names missing from list

Mohammad Shokeen and 12 members of his family could not cast their votes on Sunday as their names were missing from voter’s list despite the fact they have been living at same address in Delhi for 32 years.

The 68-year-old, who lives with his family in South Delhi’s Sangam Vihar D Block, is not alone, but there are many people like them who could not exercise their franchise in this Lok Sabha election. “This is not acceptable. We are the original residents of this area. We have not changed residence and have all documents. Nobody came to our house to gave us slips. We have been voting for so many years,” said a furious Shokeen.

Delhi Chief Electoral Officer Ranbir Singh said he and his office had been telling people to check their names in voter lists from the last six months.

“Several awareness campaigns were there. They should have checked names before going to vote. If their names were not there they should have filled form 6. We were accepting forms till April 13,” Singh said.

Sanjay Kumar, 39, a resident of Tughlaqabad Extension who works in a private company, also rued that he could not vote.

“This is disgusting. I have my own house here and have been living since my birth, I have an Aadhar card, ration card, pan card and other all documents. I have been waiting for the last three hours, but my name is not there. I don’t know whom to approach now,” Kumar said.

The ruling Aam Aadmi Party has been alleging that lakhs of names of voters have been deleted, even as poll body rejected its allegations.

“I came to vote early morning and waited for two hours while they tried to locate my name. I have been voting here for four decades and despite that my name was missing from the list,” said 66-year-old Ranbir Anand, who is a retired government employee living in New Delhi.

Firoz Ahmad, a resident of Chandni Chowk faced a similar situation.

“Three of my family members could not vote as their names were not there. They had to go back,” the 32-year-old cloth trader said.

Hardik Sharma, a first-time voter, was disappointed that he could not take a selfie with his inked finger as his name was missing the voter’s list despite appearing in the voters’ list online.

“I do not know what happened. I do not know if I will be allowed to vote. The prime minister stresses that first-timers should vote in large numbers, but you have seen the situation yourself,” Sharma, a resident of Janakpuri, said.

Taking to Twitter, Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot said, “Voters unable to find their votes at polling booths. It is true that on large scale votes have been deleted. All these are resident of Jai Vihar I, Najafgarh.”

He asked what the ECI had to say about this and sought to know who was responsible for the voters’ constitutional right to be taken away like this.

“Vote deleted this time. All are regularly voting in the past.” Delhi Home Minister Satyendar Jain tweeted with images of voter identity cards of people whose names were not in the list.

Over 1.43 crore people in Delhi are eligible to vote in this election which will decide the fate of 164 candidates, of which 18 are women. There are 43 independent candidates.

While 2,54,723 voters are in the age group of 18 and 19, there are 40,532 electorate with disability who would be provided pick up and drop facility. (PTI)
 
3.43pm 
A TMC rally in South Kolkata

 
2:45pm
Bihar on Sunday (May 12) witnessed 52.02 per cent polling for the eight Lok Sabha seats in the state's Bhojpuri-speaking northern belt, amid reports of an incident in Sheohar where a polling official was injured by a stray bullet accidentally fired by a home guard, an election official said.
More than 1.38 crore voters will decide the fate of 127 candidates in Gopalganj, Siwan, Maharajganj, East Champaran, West Champaran, Valmiki Nagar, Sheohar and Vaishali constituencies.
Despite the scorching heat, voters came out to vote in large numbers, the official added.
1:00pm
31.53% polling recorded in Haryana

Haryana on Sunday (May 12) witnessed only 31.53 per cent voting till 1 p.m. for the state's 10 Lok Sabha seats, an election official said.
The highest voter turnout was recorded in the Bhiwani-Mahendragarh seat at 37.66 per cent, followed by Sonipat, Hisar and Sirsa, the official told IANS.
Voting began at 7:00am (India time) for the Ambala, Kurukshetra, Gurugram, Faridabad, Hisar, Sirsa, Karnal, Sonipat, Bhiwani-Mahendragarh and Rohtak constituences.
Congress leader and sitting MP Deepender Hooda accused Minister of State for Cooperatives Manish Kumar Grover of booth capturing in Rohtak.
12:15pm
21.98% polling in Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh recorded around 21.98 per cent polling till 11 am on Sunday (May 12) for 14 of the state's 80 constituencies in the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha elections. There was a steady stream of people to polling booths as polling began at 7 am (India time)
Till 11 am (India time), Sultanpur recorded 25.41 per cent voter turnout, Pratapgarh 23.13, Phulpur 18.20, Allahabad 20, Ambedkar Nagar 25, Shravasti 21.34, Dumariyaganj 19.20, Basti 26.39, Sant Kabir Nagar 22.90, Lalganj 23.66, Azamgarh 19.80, Jaunpur 22.40, Machhlishahr 18.40 and Bhadohi 21.90 per cent.
12:00pm
India's Chief Election Commissioner, Sunil Arora has cast his vote at the Nirman Bhawan polling booth in New Delhi.
11:35am
Priyanka Gandhi votes, says BJP will be ousted:Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Sunday voted in the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha polls and claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would be ousted from power this time.
The Congress leader and her husband Robert Vadra exercised their franchise at a polling booth in the Sardar Patel Vidyalaya in Lodhi Estate area of Central Delhi. Speaking to the media later, Gandhi that the citizens of the country were not happy with the BJP government, especially in Uttar Pradesh.
"It's clear that the BJP is losing the elections. I am hopeful that the results in Delhi will also be good," she said. Slamming Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not speaking on the poll promises made during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, she said her party's campaign was not negative as it was of the BJP.
"We raked up real issues which were affecting the common people and spoke on their solutions while Modiji kept talking about things that were of no importance." Gandhi also hit out at Modi for not responding to the questions posed by the opposition.
"The Prime Minister does not reply to the questions posed at him. He should have answered on promises of giving Rs 15 lakh, providing two crore employments every year and also on the income of farmers. He also remaied silent on the challenge thrown by Rahulji (Gandhi) to debate on issues," she added.
11:06am
111-year-old Bachan Singh casts his vote: Delhi's oldest voter, 111-year old Bachan Singh cast his vote at a polling booth in West Delhi's Tilak Nagar on Sunday. Singh arrived at the Sant Garh polling booth in a wheel chair and was greeted by his relatives and well-wishers, some of whom even offered him bouquets.
Delhi Election Commission officials said that Singh was the oldest voter in Delhi.
10:26am
10:20am
Violence in Sultanpur: Violence erupted n Sultanpur in Uttar Pradesh early on Sunday when supporters of BSP candidate Chandra Bhadra Singh a.k.a. Sonu Singh clashed with supporters of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Maneka Gandhi.
Supporters of Sonu Singh claimed that the BJP candidate's supporters were distributing money in villages in Dhanpatganj area after midnight. When they tried to stop, the BJP supporters clashed with them. Over a dozen persons from both sides were injured and several vehicles were also damaged.
Sultanpur Superintendent of Police Anurag Vats said that he was apprised of the incident and investigations into the allegations were underway.
BJP candidate Maneka Gandhi has also spoken to Vats about the incident and demanded action against Sonu Singh. Sonu Singh, meanwhile, told this correspondent that his men were beaten up when they tried to stop the BJP supporters from distributing money.??"I am sending a complaint to the EC," he said.
9:45am
9:40am
9:30am
9:20am
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal casts his vote
9:15am
Love will win in Lok Sabha battle, says Rahul: Accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of injecting hatred and asserting that the Congress spread love in the Lok Sabha election battle, Congress President Rahul Gandhi said on Sunday that "love is going to win".
Gandhi told the media after voting in the New Delhi parliamentary constituency that the three or four main issues in this election included unemployment, farm distress, a poor economy and corruption. He declined to comment on the number of seats the Congress could win in the election. "The people will decide that," he said.
9:05am
One killed, many injured as violence hits Bengal
A BJP activist was killed in West Bengal's Jhargram district early on Sunday as a number of violent incidents and clashes rocked the state in the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha polls.

A BJP activist, Ramen Singh (30) from Jhargram constituency's Gopiballabpur, sustained a grievous head injury after allegedly being hit with an iron rod.
He was rushed to a hospital where he was declared dead, police said. The BJP accused miscreants backed by the Trinamool Congress for the crime. Incidents of sporadic violence were reported from Midnapore constituency where the saffron party's state unit chief Dilip Ghosh is engaged in a high profile battle with Trinamool Congress' Rajya Sabha member Manas Bhunia.
At least four Trinamool Party activists had to be hospitalized after being attacked with sharp weapons allegedly by BJP supporters. The condition of one person was critical. Meanwhile, a number of saffron party supporters got injured in the constituency's Datan area following a clash with Trinamool workers.
Former IPS officer and BJP candidate from West Midnapore district's Ghatal, Bharati Ghosh, was stopped from entering a polling booth by a group of women Trinamool Congress workers who accused her of influencing the voters.
Ghosh accused the ruling party of organised violence and demanded that the offenders be immediately arrested. Later, bricks were pelted on her convoy near Keshpur, injuring one of her security guards.
8:25am
8:15am
7:45am
Voting underway in 8 Bihar LS seats: Voting began for eight seats in the Bhojpuri-speaking north Bihar belt amid reports of a freak incident in Sheohar where a voter was injured by a stray bullet fired from a home guard's rifle.
There was also delay in polling at some booths due to EVM glitches. According to officials, more than 1.38 lakh voters would decide the fate of 127 candidates in Gopalganj, Siwan, Maharajganj, East Champaran, West Champaran, Valmiki Nagar, Sheohar and Vaishali constituencies.
The Sheohar voter was seriously injured as the bullet hit him in the stomach, said a district police official. The voter fell down at the polling booth and was rushed to a hospital.
Heavy security arrangements have been made with three helicopters requisitioned to provide air cover to the forces. The India-Nepal border has also been sealed.
"In the initial polling, women in large number were seen standing outside polling booths. They aimed to escape the scorching sun and hot winds (loo) later in the day," a poll official said.
Reports of problems with Electronic Voting Machines were received from several booths in Darbhanga, Begusarai, Samastipur and Munger. So far voting though has been peaceful, the official added. Stakes are high for the ruling BJP-led NDA is high in the penultimate phase as it aims to retain all these seats it won in the last elections.
7:25am
Sheila Dikshit casts an early vote: Former Delhi CM and Congress's candidate from North-East Delhi, Sheila Dikshit after casting her vote at a polling booth in Nizamuddin.
7:10am
Delhi candidate Gambhir casts his vote: Cricketer-turned-politician Gautam Gambhir, who is also the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate from east Delhi on Sunday voted.
Gambhir and his wife voted at a polling station in Old Rajendra Nagar area. He is pitted against Congress's Arvinder Singh Lovely and Aam Aadmi Party's Atishi in a triangular contest.
7:05am
Modi urges people to vote: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed to voters to exercise their electoral right as polling for the sixth phase of Lok Sabha elections.
"Yet another phase of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections is here! Urging all those whose constituencies are polling in today's sixth phase to go out and vote," he said in a tweet.
He said he hoped youngsters would vote in record numbers. "After all, their participation makes the polls even more special," he said.
7:00am
Virat Kohli urges voters to exercise franchise: Indian cricket team skipper Virat Kohli cast his vote in Delhi appealed to voters to exercise their franchise.
After casting his vote here, he told reporters: "Everyone should come and vote and I urge to all."Donning casual clothes, he came to the polling booth along with his brother.
6:50am

6:45am
People cast their votes in the morning at a booth run by all-women officers in Daspur, West Bengal.



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