Deletion of names from electoral roll not on basis of caste, faith: Chief Electoral Officer
Bengaluru, Nov 21: In the wake of allegations of voter data theft, the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Karnataka Manoj Kumar Meena on Monday said the question of deletion of voters based on caste and community from the electoral roll does not arise.
The CEO stated this after Congress alleged that names of minorities and some downtrodden communities were deleted based on the data provided by the co-founder of the Chilume Educational Cultural and Rural Development Institute (Chilume Trust).
A section of the media reported that names of people belonging to particular communities have been deleted. In view of the reports, the clarification is imperative, said the CEO.
"Electoral rolls do not contain any information related to caste/religion of voters, hence the question of deletion of names based on caste/community from the electoral rolls does not arise," Meena said in a statement.
According to him, names of people who are dead or those who moved to other places are deleted by following due process of law.
Further, possibilities of existence of multiple names of same persons are identified using a software tool by checking similarities of demographic information and photographs, he explained.
The CEO said such entries are to be verified and confirmed cases of duplicate entries are to be deleted.
Draft electoral rolls-2023 were published on November 9, and notice in Form-5 was issued by electoral roll registration officers calling for filing of claims and objections till December 8, he said.
He appealed to the members of the public to check their names in the draft electoral rolls-2023 and submit applications in the relevant form for inclusion of name, correction of name, shifting of name to different address and deletion of ineligible entries.
"Applications can be submitted online on nvsp.in portal and Voter Helpline app. Applications can also be submitted physically to the electoral registration officer directly or through the booth-level officer," the CEO said.
He clarified that the Central and State governments have no role to play in the preparation, maintenance of the electoral roll and conduct of elections.
"In case of any allegation or irregularity in electoral matters, the Election Commission of India is the authority to probe into it. No government can order any probe into such matters," Meena said.
He asked people to ignore such statements contrary to it.
The police said they have arrested the co-founder of Chilume Trust and a few others in connection with the vote theft data case registered based on a complaint from the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike.
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Rupee falls 9 paise to all-time low of 90.58 against US dollar in early trade
Mumbai (PTI): Rupee depreciated 9 paise to an all-time low of 90.58 against US dollar in early trade on Monday, weighed down by uncertainty over an India-US trade deal and persistent foreign fund outflows.
Forex traders said rupee is trading with a negative bias as investors are in wait and watch mode and awaiting cues from the India-US trade deal front.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 90.53 against the US dollar, then fell further to an all-time intraday low of 90.58 against the greenback, registering a fall of 9 paise over its previous close.
On Friday, the rupee had slipped 17 paise to close at an all-time low of 90.49 against the American currency.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.05 per cent lower at 98.35.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading higher by 0.52 per cent at USD 61.44 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share benchmark index Sensex was trading 298.86 points lower at 84,968.80, while the Nifty was down 121.40 points at 25,925.55.
Foreign Institutional Investors sold equities worth Rs 1,114.22 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.
"FPIs continue to be in selling mode in equity and debt while RBI has been selling dollars to fund their long positions," said Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury and Executive Director Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP.
