The Election Commission of India (ECI) has withdrawn a notice issued to Padma Shri awardee Harekala Hajabba regarding a discrepancy in his name found during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll in Karnataka.
The SIR in West Bengal was one of the most contentious in recent years. The difference in absolute votes between the BJP, which swept to power in West Bengal for the first time, and the Trinamool Congress was similar to the total SIR deletions. In May, the ECI announced Phase 3 of SIR in Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Delhi, Odisha, Punjab, Sikkim, Tripura, Telangana, and Uttarakhand. On April 10, the ECI announced the deletion of nearly nine million from the electoral roll.
Out of these, around 2.7 million deletions fell under the “logical discrepancy” category.
He said he was confident that the issue would be resolved, pointing out that his documents since 2004 have carried his name as Harekal Hajabba.
Hajabba said officials visited his residence after the notice became public and took it back, telling him they would examine the matter and get back to him. “I do not know what they will do next,” Hajabba said.
