SHIMLA:  As many as 10  Congress leaders including former two mayors, a deputy mayor and the former councilors of Shimla Municipal Corporation(SMC) on July 15 urged Chief Election Commissioner of Himachal Pradesh to direct the chief electoral officer to  revise voters’ list for the SMC elections as these are full of discrepancies. They sought extension of date for 10 days  for inviting objections for  the revision of the voters' list. 

Congress delegation led by former Shimla MLA and former Mayor Adarsh Sood submitted the 10-paged signed memorandum-cum- complaint addressed to the state election commissioner today.

They charged that the voters’ lists of the wards were incorrect and full of discrepancies because the wards' boundaries are overlapped and yet not properly mapped and fixed.

This is so because the  boundaries of the wards are not fixed properly on the ground during delimitation, they asserted. 

They claimed that the boundaries are not fixed as there is no map of each ward. This has created a lot of confusion among the voters  as  delimitation of wards was not done properly, they charged.

The present voters’ list has proved that the objections raised against the delimitation of wards were true, they claimed.

They challenged the voters list  today as the last date for raising objections over the voters list is fixed for July 16 and sought extension of date to remove all discrepancies, they demanded. 

They cited that in respect to five wards of Nabha, Phagli, Tuttikandi, Boileauganj and Summer Hill  some former councilors have filed petition in the High court, seeking justice for proper delimitation of these wards and matter is still pending in the court.

The Congress delegation further plead that the voters of particular ward should cast his or her vote in which his/her house falls, not otherwise.

“We have noted that the present voters’ list is full of such overlapping and discrepancies and hence it defeats very purpose of delimitation and democracy”, said Harish Janartha, Congress Shimla urban leader and former deputy mayor of Shimla, who led the delegation.     

For example the name of Rakesh Sharma, ex-deputy mayor and councilor  from Panthaghati ward is a resident of Ram Krishna Niwas in Panthaghatti ward no 29. But  names of Sharma and his family members are listed in voters' list of ward number 31 Kasumpti.

Similarly, the Voters' List has meted out the same treatment to Simi Nanda, ex-councilor Nabha and her family members, who  are residents of Amit Lodge Lower Phagli.

Now their names  figure in new ward no 11, Tuttikandi and ward number  13 Phagli. The same family, same house but they figure in two different wards, they rued.  

Many buildings in Lower Phagli, faced similar discrepancies in voters list as the boundaries are not fixed properly, they said. 

In the same fashion, Kusum Lata Thakur former councillor, New Shimla is resident of Ashwini building in ward  number 38, New Shimla.

But as per voters list her and a few of her family members’ names are shown in the voters list of ward number 37, Pateog.  One family member is now enlisted in the ward number 36 Kangnadhar.

Similar discrepancies have also occurred in Strawberry hill area, Brockhurst, Chota Shimla Dhalli, BhattaKufar,  Devanagar, Upper Vikas Nagar, Tutu, Majiath, Shanti Vihar, and many other areas in the city.

This in turn has created a lot of confusion and discrepancies in voters’ list. The voters list need to be rectified and revised to give justice  to residents so that they can vote for candidates of their choice in their wards in which they live, said Janartha.

Among other Congress leaders present with Janartha were two former mayors- Adarsh Sood, former Shimla MLA  and Manoj Kumar- who submitted their complaint to the State Election Commissioner.

The were accompanied by former councilors,  Sushant Kaprate, Jitender Chaudhary, Mohinder Chauhan, Manoj Kuthiala,  Kusum Lata Thakur, Surender Chauhan, Inderjit Singh, Simi Nanda and others.  

They urged the commissioner to direct the state electoral officer to issue the revied voters list by inviting the objections in a time bound manner.

They pleaded that the date for inviting fresh objections be extended by 10 days from July 16 as this process is bound to take time.

Taking Cognizance of their objections,  the commission directed the  deputy commissioner and electoral officer, Shimla to address their objections by taking action with an immediate effect.