Cantonment denizens voters list phobia

Secunderabad: The residents of Secunderabad Cantonment seem to be apolitical lot if the recent trends are anything to go by. In the latest data available from the Intensive Revision of Electoral Rolls (IRER) being conducted by the Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB), about 50 to 100 voters’ names are being deleted per polling booth. SCB, CEO SVR Chandra Sekhar said, “We appeal to the residents to cooperate with the staff so that the revision of electoral rolls is completed in the most authentic manner.”

The IRER has been given to Karvy Data Management Services. A Parashuram, Coordinating Officer, SCB says, “Tablet operators visit each house thrice. In many cases, the residents do not cooperate and furnish details resulting in deletion of names. After an operator finishes visiting a house for the third time only we delete the name.”

In all, there are 233 polling booths in the Secunderabad Cantonment with 2.10 lakh voters. Each operator is given a tablet in which he verifies the voter’s list. In case the name is missing or is not found in the data, a fresh voter ID is given. P Sainath, a resident of West Marredpally, says, “My voter ID of the 90s was not found in the database and I was asked to furnish a photo and Aadhaar card and I was told that I would get a new voter ID.”

The work of revision of voters list started on August 3 in Secunderabad Cantonment and till date, 50 out of the 233 polling booths have been covered. Ramesh, a tablet operator said, “People get irritated and ask several questions. Many a times, they do not want to share information. Unless people cooperate, the work cannot go on smoothly. What is surprising is even well-educated class is indifferent.”