Voters left in the lurch as names go missing or deleted

Many citizens who stood in long queues to exercise their vote were disappointed as their names were either missing or deleted from the electoral rolls.

Instances of the name of only one family member missing and names deleted without prior notice were reported from across the city. “My husband and sister could vote. But my name was missing from the list. I don't understand how this can happen when all of us stay at the same address,” said Sathyavathi T, a resident of Dasarahalli.

C Ramamurthy, a resident of Basavanagudi said that the officials had deleted his name and he got to know about it only when he went to vote. “I have been a resident of this area for the last 40 years and I have voted for every election since then. Without reaching out to me, they have deleted my name."

Read | First-time voters, elderly steal show in Karnataka Assembly polls

While such incidents were reported from CV Raman Nagar, JP Nagar, Shivajinagar, RR Nagar, Nagarbhavi and several other areas in the city, citizens were miffed that the BBMP officials did not respond to any of their complaints. “Every official we approached just redirected us to another. Nobody wants to take responsibility,” said Chaithra, a resident of Nagarbhavi.

That apart, there were also instances where the names of the voters were misspelt and they were made to wait for hours to get the error rectified.

"About two or three citizens got into arguments with the volunteers as they were not being allowed to vote — their names were misspelt and pictures on the voter ID looked different. However, they were permitted to vote after clarifications," said Asmat Begum, a volunteer at St Joseph's Indian High School in Shanthinagar.