Bizarre goof-ups in centenarians’ list

When 32-year-old Ramkali goes out to vote on May 20, she may be up for a bizarre surprise. She may have to prove that she is not a centenarian as she is mentioned as a 101-year-old woman on the voter list.
Confirming that there has been an oversight while entering the data on electoral rolls, the booth level officer (BLO) concerned contested that the discrepancy had crept in from previous electoral rolls and that a report requesting a correction has been sent.The data is yet to be updated.
Ramkali’s is not a one-off case. There is a conspicuous pattern indicating perceptible inconsistencies in electoral rolls, at least in terms of voters aged 100 years and above.
Those who are either dead, or moved to different cities, or are in their 30s and 40s have made it to the list of voters in the age group of 100-plus years.
According to election officials, there are at least 210 centenarian voters in the city. Of these, 203 are in the age group of 100-109 years, two in the 110-119 years’ category, and eight above 120 years. Carrying out a fact check, TOI reached out to around 20% of voters in the age group and found very few genuine voters who were still alive and could be approached.
In many cases, the phone numbers of the BLOs were provided. When contacted, these BLOs either claimed that they didn’t have the contact number of voters or dragged their feet in sharing details. Many BLOs could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.
TOI could trace the whereabouts of 40 BLOs/voters of whom only 31 responded. The findings revealed 69% of them were either dead or younger than the age mentioned in the list.
The BLOs told TOI that the electoral rolls were old and that match ing the data of voters with Aadhaar card took them longer than they had hoped. While many had sent reports requesting correction, others were clueless if these voters were linked to their booths.
“These were pretty old electoral rolls and that could be the reason behind discrepancies. We are regularly going to the ground and verifying the data. If we notice any inconsistency, we inform the department and ask for corrections,” said Har Govind, a block level officer.
Meanwhile, district magistrate Suryapal Gangwar pointed out that the BLOs are the proposers of electoral data and based on the information provided by them, a draft list is prepared. “This list is then made public. It is also shared with the representatives of various political parties and at the panchayat level so that if somebody has any objection, they can point it out. Revisions are done accordingly,” he said. “Objections had to be raised before April 1, after which the deletion window was closed. The updated data will appear on the final list which will be published on or after May 3. If there is any large scale inconsistency, then a review will be conducted and accountability will be fixed accordingly,” he added.
(With inputs from Akshat Kandlya)