HYDERABAD: With elections in Telangana held on December 7, voters were in for a shock with names of many people missing from the voters' list at booths in various parts of the state. Telangana Chief Electoral Officer Rajath Kumar said, “We put out a lot of advertisements that people should ask for Form 7 and enroll. But I am sorry not everyone was able to use it.” Shockingly, among those with their names missing on the list was ace badminton player Jwala Gutta and a senior IPS officer.
Gutta alleged that she couldn't vote in Telangana as her name was missing from the voters' list. The shuttler wrote in a series of tweets that she was surprised to see her “name disappear” from the list. Kumar said he is getting a report from the official who is in charge of Gutta's neighbourhood. “I do empathise with Jwala Gutta. Actually, her name has been missing from electoral roll since 2016. So, in 2016, 2017, 2018, the inclusion was not there. We will rectify that situation,” Kumar said. Senior police officer T Krishna Reddy also posted on the internet that his name had gone missing mysteriously. Congress leader Marri Shashidhar Reddy went to court saying the electoral rolls were not complete and had serious errors.
Internet researcher Srinivas Kodali, who had filed a petition seeking the names of deleted voters said, “The low voting is a reflection not just of those who didn't go to vote but those who were denied a chance to vote. There is reason to believe that there was voter profiling done and there was targeted deletion of voters though I don't have proof for that.” Back in September, 2.81 Crore people were named in Telangana's final electoral rolls after the names of 3 Lakh dead voters and duplicate names were removed. Telangana and Rajasthan, which voted last week were the last of the five states where elections were held ahead of next year's national elections.
Rs 137 crore cash seized during Telangana assembly
The Telangana assembly elections have proven to be one of the costliest elections ever held in terms of the amount of cash seized by police before the polling was held. CEO Rajath Kumar said nearly Rs 137 Crore, including Rs 125 Crore in cash, has been seized by police authorities across Telangana till now, since the announcement of election schedule in the first week of October. This is nearly Rs 50 Crore over the amount seized during the 2014 assembly elections held for the combined Andhra Pradesh.
He said, “Apart from cash, over 10 lakh litres of liquor was seized across the state over the last one month, besides unaccounted gold and silver ornaments and other material apparently meant for luring voters.” Another election official said what was seized was not even 10 per cent of what is being spent by the political parties to woo voters. “Almost all political parties have been splurging money heavily to win the keenly contested elections. For the last two days, money has been flowing unabashedly,” he said.
The candidates have been transferring money from one part to another in different ways. “While most of the candidates use hawala routes to transport money through business houses, jewellers and wholesale dealers, others are carrying money discreetly in vehicles,” the official said.
