May 13,2019:
One of the first time voters, a National Law School student, a responsible citizen of the country eager to exercise her voting rights took a train from her college, Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar, to cast on Sunday, 12 May, for the sixth phase of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Upon reaching the polling booth, number 154 in the Badshahpur Assembly in Gurugram, to her shock she was informed that her name was not in the list.
Appalled by this, she instantly got on the website of NVSP and decided to check for herself.
To the surprise of officers on duty, her name was on the list available online, with the polling booth number, my enrolment number and the address of the polling booth.
On comparing the physical copy of the list with the online list, it was found that close to 60 names were missing from the list that was provided to the officers.
Polling booth agent, who was in charge of giving voters the slips, informed that she should have objected instantly when the list was released and should not have relied on the hope that the election commission will do its job.
Frustrated with this confusion and lack of coordination, she went outside and asked some officers sitting outside, details of the officer-in-charge, so that she could file a proper complaint.
Suddenly, everyone started listening to her, but this did not deter her from filing the complaint.
Some phone numbers were dialled, and the updated list appeared out of thin air, inside the polling booth, which had her name. She was then given permission to vote.
Regardless of what happened, this exercise was clearly an infringement of right to vote. What about those 60 names who were probably not allowed to cast their vote.
Source Quint
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