Mumbai: With nearly 12 lakh names missing from the voters’ list during the Brihanmumbai municipal corporation (BMC) polls, the Shiv Sena has appealed people to register complaints at the local shakhas or simply give a call on a toll free (1800228595) set up by the party. Lakhs of voters from the city could not exercise their franchise since their names were not there in the voters’ list.
The Sena plans to approach the court with the missing names plea. Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray has raised serious concerns over the issue of missing names from the voters’ list. Mr Thackeray mentioned about this issue to the newly-elected Sena corporators on Saturday.
Raising doubts over the deletion of 12 lakh names from the voters’ list, Shiv Sena MP Anil Desai said that it has affected the voter turnout in almost every ward. “The voters suffered at many voting booths on the polling day. This has happened in other municipal corporations too. Surprisingly, many of the voters had their names in 2014 election list and had then exercised their rights too. Despite the state election commission’s (SEC) efforts to have a special drive for voters, many could not vote,” Mr Desai said.
The Sena has asked people to call on a toll free number (1800228595) and register their complaints. “Every Sena shakha will also register these complaints. We first want to know how many people had this problem. We are collecting the actual data in this way to approach the court. Our party could have garnered more votes if the names were not deleted from the voters list,” Mr Desai said.
It may be recalled that many people, including celebrities like Varun Dhavan, Paresh Rawal could not vote because their names were missing in the final voters’ list. Mr Rawal found his name in another ward’s list.
Replying to such queries, the SEC put the onus on the voters and said that they did not participate in the awareness drive to check if the names were in the list. The SEC pointed fingers at the Election Commission of India for sending the final list.
