UP civic polls: Lucknow Commissioner to probe voter list irregularities

Lucknow: Following the uproar over the voter list irregularities in the Uttar Pradesh civic polls, the State Election Commission on Monday directed Lucknow Commissioner Anil Garg to probe the matter.

In an announcement, UP State Election Commissioner SK Agarwal said, "We have received many complaints of several names missing from the voters' list," adding, "To ascertain if it was intentional or not, we have asked the Lucknow Divisional Commissioner to investigate the matter."

Earlier on Sunday, 25 districts of the state, including Lucknow, had gone to polls. The overall polling percentage was recorded below 50 per cent, while Lucknow could only score 37.57 per cent voting.

The issue with the voters' list is being looked as major reasons behind such low percentage of voting in the state as well as the capital city.

Also Read: UP civic polls: About 49 per cent voting recorded in second phase

A number of people, including some VIPs, claimed that their names were struck off from the voters' list. Among the dignitaries who were ignored in the list were senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Kalraj Mishra, DGP Sulkhan Singh and CBCID ASP Awnish Mishra.

Several reports surfaced claiming that the names of the entire families as well as localities were missing from the voter list.

SK Agarwal had on Sunday evening even blamed some government personnel for the low percentage of voting.

In a damage-repair act over the negligence allegation, Lucknow District Magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma suspended three booth-level officers (BLOs) for the ignorant behavior. He also issued show-cause notice to all the zonal magistrates of the district over thousands of names being missed in the voters' list.