Faulty booth slips deny voters their franchise

Even Vijaykanth got faulty booth slip!

C Shivakumar

Chennai:

Faulty booth slips and missing of names, streets and areas in the voters list has left many enthusiastic voters upset who have to return without casting their votes in muncipal corporation elections.

The most to bear the brunt were senior citizens who were harried a lot after being made to run from pillar to post in the hot sun.

Many who had come with their family to vote were puzzled to find that while a member of the family’s name is included others were excluded. Seeking answers from the officials proved futile and they have to return home.

And the funniest thing was that the leader of opposition Vijaykanth also got a faulty booth slip directing him to vote at Clarence school in Saligramam while he was entitled to vote in nearby Kaveri School.

Showing the faulty booth slip to the media, Vijaykanth alleged the booth slip was faulty and blamed the election commission for it. His wife Premlatha said that it was for her supporters they knew where to cast their vote.

Initially the booth slips were not distributed properly in saligramam and after corporation official’s intervention later in the morning, voters in Saligramam got an idea where to cast their franchise.

In Nellankarai Thoraipakkam, retired professors Meikandan and Pankaiah Selvi said they were not eligible to vote as Sakthi Nagar and Customs Colony did not figure in the booth slips. Similar was the case with Prabhakaran, a retired information and public relation officer of the government and his wife Valarmathi who have to return dejected after being denied their vote.

Another senior citizen Kannan Armugam, 75, was shouting at officials stating that he has been turned away from every booth despite having all the valid papers. “I am old. I can’t wait in the sun for two hours. I won’t vote this time,” he retorts angrily