EC, Bengaluru officials at loggerheads over Rahul Dravid’s name falling off rolls

BENGALURU: A row has erupted between Election Commission officials and the

Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike

(BBMP) over former Indian skipper Rahul Dravid’s name having gone missing from electoral rolls. BBMP is the nodal agency for conducting elections in Bengaluru.


TOI reported on Sunday that Dravid — the Election Commission ambassador — had had his name deleted from Indiranagar after he shifted to Ashwathnagar RMV Extension. His name was struck off the Indiranagar rolls on his brother Vijay’s requisition. The cricketer’s name doesn’t figure in the new address, which falls under Malleswaram assembly segment, as he hadn’t applied for its inclusion.

An officer said the rules do not permit adding Dravid’s name now to the rolls for polling on April 18. “A decision has to be made by the chief election commissioner,” he added. After the report came out, the office of the Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora sought a report from poll officials in Karnataka. By 11 pm, election officials were at Dravid’s doorstep, explaining the sequence that resulted in the non-inclusion of his name. They took his signature on Form 6 for inclusion of his name in Malleswaram constituency.