On Wednesday, a group of 150-odd voters travelled 40 km to their polling booth in central Delhi. They claimed to have even received voter slips outside the booth, only to be told by an officer inside that their names had been deleted from the electoral roll. These voters had been relocated from the city’s Kali Bari area to Narela last year.
Kali Bari is part of New Delhi Assembly constituency, from where Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal is looking to secure his third consecutive term against Bharatiya Janata Party’s Parvesh Sahib Singh and Congress’s Sandeep Dikshit.
“We checked online several times, including once this morning before getting on a bus, to ensure that our names were on the roll,” rued Durgesh, a 41-year-old autorickshaw driver.
Mukesh Rai, 52, also among those who returned to Kali Bari to cast their ballot, said, “I have been voting in New Delhi since I turned 18. All my paperwork still carries the Kali Bari Marg address.”
‘Procedure followed’
Mr. Rai said when they later called the Chief Electoral Officer’s (CEO) helpline, they were told that their names were removed on account of moving out of Kali Bari and an advertisement had been issued in newspapers a few months ago asking them to shift votes to their new addresses.
When reached for comment, Delhi CEO R. Alice Vaz did not respond. However, an Election Commission official said that they had followed the procedure for removing names of voters.
The voters were among hundreds of slum dwellers in Kali Bari who had paid over ₹1 lakh to the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board for Low Income Group flats in Dwarka. However, they were given flats in Narela, and their shanties, built on land earmarked for RML Hospital, were demolished in October 2024.
Published – February 06, 2025 01:49 am IST