Next time your name isn’t on voters’ list, Election Commission will tell you about it

EC is considering a proposal that calls for publicising names that are struck off the electoral rolls after being criticised over missing names in the Lok Sabha polls.

Representational photo | Paramilitary soldiers check identity cards of voters before they enter a polling station during the 5th phase of Lok Sabha elections, in Howrah district, West Bengal| Photo: Swapan Mahapatra

New Delhi: Months after thousands of voters complained that their names were missing from the electoral list, the Election Commission (EC) is considering a proposal to address the issue.

The commission is now evaluating the possibility of publicising the names of people that have been deleted from the electoral rolls following an updation, ThePrint has learnt. Sources told ThePrint that the idea was floated in a meeting that the commission held with all chief electoral officers (CEOs) earlier this month.

The EC hopes that publicising the names would ensure that those who aren’t on the rolls are aware of the problem.

The commission had come under fire during the Lok Sabha elections and assembly polls in a few states in April and May when there were widespread complaints from voters not finding their names on the electoral rolls. Several of them even took to social media to air their grievance.

While civil society groups and other eminent people accused EC officials of adopting a lackadaisical attitude, election authorities said that most deletions occurred due to voters changing their residences.

In a scathing statement issued after the elections, a group of former civil servants said the onus was on the EC to clarify the situation. “Several reports were published in the media of large-scale voter exclusion, with some reports suggesting that voters from a certain minority group were the most affected. It was incumbent upon the ECI to investigate them and respond promptly,” their statement said.

A proposal in the works

The idea of publicising the names has not been formalised and was just one of the possible solutions floated by some of the CEOs. It was suggested that the EC should expect voters to assume that their names would be on the list and that it must take it upon itself to informing voters that their names are not on the list.

If the idea is accepted, details such as how to publicise the names, the platforms among others would be decided.

The meeting also saw the commission discuss a slew of other issues that had cropped up during the Lok Sabha elections. The CEOs are expected to file their formal presentations on their proposed solutions in August.

EC may also match electoral rolls with death registry

Another idea that came up during the discussion on voter deletion was for the EC to corroborate the electoral rolls with the National Death Register of India (NDRI).

“When someone dies, the first thing people do is to apply for a death certificate…Getting their names deleted from the electoral list does not quite occur to grieving families,” a CEO told ThePrint on condition of anonymity. “So if the ECI can match the electoral rolls with the death registry, it would sanitise the rolls.”