U.P. civic elections: Re-polling ordered in a Lucknow booth

Amid complaints of names missing from the voter rolls and EVMs malfunctioning in the Uttar Pradesh civic elections, the State Election Commission has decided to hold re-polling in a Lucknow booth on Wednesday. Polling will be held again at booth 277 in Balaganj. Polling will also be held in 233 civic bodies across 26 districts in the third and final phase on Wednesday.

On Sunday, when Lucknow voted in the second phase, there were complaints of names gone missing from the rolls and EVMs malfunctioning. The district recorded 14% voting till noon, and the final tally was a mere 37.7%.

In the first two hours of voting, the EVM at booth 277 in Balaganj registered just 200 votes for chairman and 29 for the ward representative. 

Ved Prakash Verma, Assistant State Election Commissioner, said that while there was “no malfunctioning” of EVM during polling, there was a “doubt that votes were not being registered.” “There was a big difference between the votes for the chairman and the ward representative. The process of vote registering was not complete because of some snag. To avoid any trouble in the declaration of the results, we order re-polling,” he told The Hindu. The EVM was immediately replaced, he said.

The Election Commission has also directed the Divisional Commissioner of Lucknow to probe the complaints of names gone missing and alleged negligence of officials. State Election Commissioner S.K. Agarwal has said there were discrepancies in the rolls, mainly because of the carelessness of booth-level



officers.

The divisional commissioner will submit a report on December 15. The administration has suspended three booth-level officers.

Mohammad Haider, a Lucknow lawyer who lodged a complaint with the Election Commission over “anomalies and improprieties” in the rolls, said the booth-level officers were being made scapegoats. He called for severe action against those responsible for the “disenfranchisement of a majority of citizens of Lucknow.”

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav called for corrective measures. “When the names of MPs, Ministers and Mayor go missing from the rolls, what is the point of appealing to the people to vote,” he asked.

Not just ordinary citizens, even Minister Rita Bahuguna Joshi, BJP MP Kalraj Mishra and former Lucknow Mayor Dauji Gupta found their names missing.

A delegation of the Samajwadi Party submitted a representation to the Election Commission, demanding a probe. The party alleged that the BJP was misusing the government machinery in its campaign and demanded that polls be conducted without any political pressure or discrimination. Around the names of 15-20% of the voters were omitted from the lists in Lucknow, Allahabad, Aligarh, Varanasi, Meerut and Agra, in a “a well-thought-out strategy,” the party said.

In the third phase, over 94 lakh people are eligible to vote in 4,299 wards across 26 districts, including Moradabad, Bareilly, Saharanpur, Jhansi and Rae Bareli. A total of 28,123 candidates are in the fray.