This is not the first time that the irregularities have surfaced in the voters lists. For instance, a large sample survey (over 40,000 voters) by Lok Satta in Andhra Pradesh in 2000 showed an error margin of over 15 percent in voter registration in rural areas. Over 10 percent of the names have been wrongfully included (dead or fictitious persons, and those who no longer reside in the locality), and about 5 percent of the eligible persons have been excluded from the electoral rolls (persons attaining 18 years of age by January 1, or moved into the area). In urban areas, the picture is even more appalling; with 26 percent of the names wrongfully included, and 19 percent of the voters' names excluded.

Clearly, a system which allows such gross errors is less than adequate, and electoral verdicts are bound to be distorted. Especially when we consider that the average polling is about 60 percent, and the victory margins are usually around 5-10 percent, we can imagine the impact of irregularities in voter registration on the electoral verdicts.

Isn't it a paradox that India, with our large pool of technical manpower and undoubted competence in IT enabled services finds it difficult to properly enumerate the voters?

 

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