A TECHIE was approached by A MIDDLEMAN who asked FOR rs1,000 TO GET voter’s ID card
Like any other citizen, Prasanjit Banerjee, a software engineer with a private company and a resident of Bellandur, wants to exercise his voting rights in the coming Lok Sabha elections.
However, Banerjee claims that authorities are denying his right to vote by not registering his name in the voters list, even though he has all the valid documents.
“I had filled in the Form 6 and submitted my application on February 15, 2009 to enlist my name in the electoral list. I had expected that the voter ID card to be issued in time. However, even after 10 visits to the voter facilitation centre (VFC) in Whitefield during the last 45 days, my name is yet to be registered. All I have got is false reassurance during each visit,” said Banerjee.
The real shocker for Banerjee came few days ago, when a few touts in the VFC premises asked him and some other citizens assembled at the Centre to pay Rs1,000 for ‘immediate’ issuance of voter ID card.
As citizens claim, the VFC at Whitefield seems to have become a gaming field for touts who approach citizens standing in queues and try to squeeze money out of them.
“Without the nexus between VFC officials and touts, such kind of harassment to citizens cannot happen. There is absolute lack of transparency,” Banerjee added.
Fed up with the entire process, Banerjee has now lodged a complaint with the Chief Election Officer of Karnataka.
A copy of the complaint (dated April 1, 2009) available with DNA states that the repeated visits to the Assistant Electoral Registration Officer (AERO) at the VFC in 174-Mahadevapura in Whitefield have been of no use so far.
“The AERO accepted my application on February 15 and asked me and some others to come on February 28 to check if our names have been included in the voter’s list. However, even after paying several visits in March, neither my name nor my wife’s name have been registered in the list,” Banerjee said. rohith_r@dnaindia.net
