Mangaluru: In a major error during Karnataka’s special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, the Election Commission mistakenly classified a 61-year-old Mangaluru resident as dead, resulting in the omission of his name from the draft electoral roll published on Aug 24.Donald Joseph Rego, a resident of the Mangaluru City South assembly constituency, discovered that his name had been excluded from the draft roll. He later found that it had been wrongly listed under the “dead” category in the absent, shifted, duplicate, dead and others (ASDDO) register.Rego questioned how he could have been declared dead without any documentary evidence, including a valid death certificate. He said that despite making several visits to the booth level officer (BLO) and the assistant electoral registration officer (AERO) to seek restoration of his name, the issue remained unresolved.Rego said he had submitted the duly filled enumeration form to the BLO as required.“They are passing the responsibility from one person to another. Officials have said it may have been a data entry error by the operator. If that is the case, the BLO should have verified the details properly and confirmed whether the person was actually dead,” he said.On the advice of election officials, Rego has submitted Form 6 to register as a new voter. He said he had also been asked to visit the election office in connection with the matter.KS Dayanand, tahsildar (elections), said the issue had been discussed and brought to the notice of the Election Commission.“We have received the complaint and it has already been brought to the notice of the Election Commission. The commission will take a final decision on whether action should be initiated against the official responsible for the error,” he said.
