Mangaluru: The Dakshina Kannada district administration has clarified that the name of a voter in Part No. 24 of the 203-Mangaluru City South assembly constituency was mistakenly marked as that of a deceased person during the digitisation of the enumeration form under the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.According to a release issued by the additional deputy commissioner, the voter, Donald Joseph Rego, resides in an apartment on Bejai New Road, Mangaluru. His name was registered in the voter list in part number 23, at serial number 48, before the publication of draft voter list. . An enumeration form was issued to him by the booth-level officer (BLO). The voter had furnished his personal details in the form and attached his father’s death certificate. As the form did not contain details mapping him to the 2002 electoral roll or information about his parentage, it was treated as a ‘No Mapping Case’. During digitisation, the BLO mistakenly interpreted the death certificate as relating to the voter and marked him as deceased, resulting in the omission of his name from the draft electoral roll.The electoral registration officer for the 203-Mangaluru City South constituency subsequently sought an explanation from the concerned BLO and initiated corrective measures.On Aug 29, the officer and the BLO contacted the voter and submitted an application through the BLO app using Form 6. The application was filed to include his name in the electoral roll. The required documents have been collected and further action is being taken as per the rules. The district administration has stated that steps have been initiated to include Donald Joseph Rego’s name in the final electoral roll.Inclusion of eligible voters should be prioritised over deletion: KhaderHealth minister UT Khader on Wednesday urged officials and the Election Commission to focus on including eligible voters rather than concentrating solely on deleting names during the second phase of the special intensive revision (SIR).Speaking to reporters, he said officials should proactively identify every individual who had attained the age of 18 and is eligible to vote, and ensure that their names were included in the electoral roll. Khader also expressed concern about voters residing or working abroad being excluded from the electoral roll because they were unable to appear for in-person verification.He urged officials not to delete their names merely because they were overseas, and said the commission should explore a suitable mechanism to facilitate their verification.
