HYDERABAD: “Singapore”, “For Pakistan”, “Slingshot”, “Cockatoo”, “Cashew Lizard”, “Big Goot”, and “Goat’s Nest”, it turns out, are nonsensical words and phrases representing polling stations from the 2002 rolls that are listed on the Election Commission website and being used to map residents in Telangana. When TOI scanned the electoral rolls, it found extensive use of such words and phrases: “for vegetarian”, “a new students”, “johncompete”, “find the pumpkin”, “among the monkeys” and “while sleeping”, to name a few. And it was recurring across all erstwhile districts of Telangana. ECI’s Voters’ Service Portal also carries a large disclaimer in red: “Spellings may vary between last SIR details and current details, hence if you do not find output with exact name then try different variations of names, for example for Maneesh also try Manish.”
‘Couldn’t find booths despite living in city since age of 14’ Election Commission’s Voters’ Service Portal adds that EC has hosted the data as received (from state chief electoral officers), without any modification.With the pre-special intensive revision process under way in Telangana, voters complained how these “preposterous” names of polling stations have made it challenging for them to scan the SIR e-roll to check if their names – or that of their parents and grandparents – are on the list being used for mapping.“I struggled for a week to find my name in the 2002 roll, under Chevella constituency. When I saw the polling station names, I was shocked. I couldn’t recognise many of them despite living in the city since the age of 14,” said Satya Narayana, a resident of Ranga Reddy district. “They hardly make any sense. How does EC expect us to cooperate when the list they prepared is full of mistakes,” he asked.Ajay R, a voter from Wardhannapet constituency, shared how he encountered words like “lazy”, “bite” and “worry” during his search. “I don’t understand how officials assumed that these could be polling station names. This shows that they did no due diligence while preparing the electoral rolls. It’s unfortunate that they are now using it to sanitise electoral rolls in the country,” said the voter, who was a minor in 2002.Incidentally, some of the electoral registration officers TOI spoke to were themselves shocked to learn about these errors. They said they’d look into the rolls to identify such errors and bring them to EC’s notice for deletion. “Booth-level officers will have to inform us if errors are found. So far no such issue has been flagged to us in the pre-SIR process,” said K Partha Simha Reddy, ERO, Chevella constituency.Telangana CEO C Sudharshan Reddy, meanwhile, refused to comment on the issue.
