Date:28/08/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/08/28/stories/2008082854110400.htm

New Delhi

Delhi Congress delegation meets CEC

Staff Reporter

Rectification of mistakes in electoral rolls and speeding up the process of making voter I-cards

Photo: V. Sudershan

Conveying concern: Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit along with DPCC chief J. P. Agarwal and Ministers Arvinder Singh Lovely and Haroon Yousuf coming out of the Election Commission headquarters after meeting the Chief Election Commissioner over electoral rolls in the Capital on Wednesday.

NEW DELHI: A delegation of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee led by its president J. P. Agarwal called on the Central Election Commissioners at Nirwachan Sadan here on Wednesday to request them to rectify the mistakes in the Capital’s electoral rolls and intensify the process of making voters’ identity cards.

The DPCC delegation included Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and her Cabinet colleagues A. K. Walia, Yoganand Shastri, Mangat Ram Singhal, Arvinder Singh Lovely, Haroon Yousuf and Rajkumar Chauhan besides the Member of Parliament from East Delhi, Sandeep Dikshit.

The delegation brought to the notice of the three Election Commissioners mistakes in the electoral rolls and sought immediate correction of the errors.

It said there were many mistakes in the draft electoral rolls.

The photos of many voters were missing, some names were printed wrongly and photos had been placed against the wrong names.

The delegation pointed out that unless the mistakes were corrected immediately, lakhs of people in the Capital would be denied their just voting rights in the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections.

The delegation requested the Election Commissioners to ensure that the mistakes are rectified on a war footing.

Serious view

In a statement later, Mr. Agarwal said the Election Commissioners took a serious view of the issue and promised to correct the electoral rolls as quickly as possible.

“The Election Commissioners promised that every effort would be made to correct the mistakes when the final electoral rolls come out in September,” he added.

Mr. Agarwal appealed to the voters of Delhi to take the trouble to check the electoral rolls and correct any mistake and submit the forms along with photographs for making the ID cards.

He said the Congress workers were making every effort to ensure that no voter was denied an identity card and the mistakes in the electoral rolls were promptly rectified.