Where is my name? Residents fume

CHENNAI: Many residents of the southern parts of the city were in for a rude shock on Monday when they discovered that their name did not figure in the electoral rolls for the Chennai Corporation elections. A significant number of residents whom Express spoke to, were people from other states, like Andhra Pradesh and Kerala, who had settled in Chennai decades ago, They said they felt left out from the local democratic exercise.“It is a question of identity for me,” said Vasudevan Nair, an octogenarian living in Shenoy Nagar. “I have lived for more than six decades in this city and it is sad when your name isn’t on the list of citizens eligible to vote,” he lamented. Vasudevan said that while he had faced no hassles during Assembly elections, the names of his family members get dropped time and again during the Corporation elections. “This is the third Corporation poll in which our names have been dropped.”Ironically, State Election Commissioner S Ayyar, in a media interview on Monday, said he did not want anybody to leave the polling stations without casting their vote. But that is exactly what happened to many residents of Gill Nagar, MMDA Colony, Choolaimedu, Kodambakkam, T Nagar and Anna Nagar as their names did not figure in the list.The worst, however, was ‘W’ Block area of Anna Nagar, where residents of an entire neighbourhood complained of missing names. Ward 66 in Anna Nagar became a centre of confusion and unsatisfied residents came out of the booth complaining about the officials.