Finding names missing, many voters in Chennai return disappointed

Quite a few people did not vote on Tuesday as their names were missing from the electoral list. Some took to social media to vent their frustration.

Several residents of Gandhi Nagar 3rd Main Road in Adyar did not find their name on the voters’ list at the polling booth in St. Michael’s School. One of them said: “I did not get a booth slip, but I went to the polling booth. My name was not on the list. My neighbour and a person in a building next door also did not find their names. But the names of my grandmother who is no more, and a man in our building who died in 2018 were listed though we had given the forms for deletion of names to the Chennai Corporation.”

The deceased man’s wife’s name was also not on the list, she said. In another instance, the house owner’s name did not figure in the list whereas the domestic help, listed as a resident of the house, found her name.

“My name was not there in the electoral list,” said a Velachery resident, who has been voting for the past 12 years at the Government Higher Secondary School in Draupathi Amman Koil Street. “I voted in the last election,” he said. The same thing happened to another family, he complained.

“Where is my right to vote?” he asked. He wants to file an RTI to get answers.

A Choolaimedu resident said all others in her apartment complex, including her husband, cast their votes. “My name has been removed from the list,” she said.

Another resident of Choolaimedu, who recently changed his address, did not find his name on the list. He then scanned the EPIC website and since his name was on the list he managed to vote, he said.

A resident of Chetpet, Rajesh. G., said booth slips were not distributed and in the polling booth on School Road names were not posted, making it difficult to identify the rooms allotted for each street. A resident of TNHB flats in Tiruvanmiyur said quite a few people in the complex returned disappointed as their names were missing.

Asha and T.V. Subramanian, residents of Kelambakkam, could not vote. The couple had moved from Royapettah in 2017 and applied for address change last year. Though they received an acknowledgement from the ECIS in March 2020, the change was not effected. “I voted from the old centre in the 2019 Parliament election. We were not sure if our names would be on the list. We did not make the trip as we were wary of COVID-19 restrictions,” she said.