Navin Chawla faces clerical error
Clerical error did not spare even Chief Election Commissioner, Mr Navin Chawla, whose intervention did not stop his name from figuring in two voters’ lists.
But when he went to vote on Thursday, his name appeared only in one place.
Mr Chawla had written on February 6 last to the Delhi’s chief electoral officer pointing out that his and his wife’s names appeared at two booths in the New Delhi Lok Sabha constituency. He wanted their names to be removed from booth no. 85 of the list and retained in booth no. 86, both in Nirman Bhawan which has the offices of heath, rural and urban development and other ministries.
Following his request, the electoral registration officer (ERO) informed him that their names in booth no. 85 were deleted from the final rolls. However, still the names of Mr Chawla and his wife Ms Rupika appeared “inadvertently” in photo electoral roll showing their names in both booth no. 85 and booth no. 86, which was rectified later.
“It was a clerical error,” Mr Chawla said after the CEC, his wife and daughter cast their votes at booth no. 86. Mr Chawla, who took over the CEC on April 21, appealed to voters to come out and vote as millions of people had put in their effort for many months to make the electoral process possible all over the country. “Voting is not only about a candidate or a party, it is also a vote for democracy. Just as the ocean is made of drops of water, democracy is made of every vote. I hope every voter will come out and vote,” he said.