With barely a month to go for the general election, a Hyderabad-based technology company claimed that names of 12 crore eligible voters are missing from the electoral rolls.
Of these, three crore are Muslims and four crore are Dalits, according to Khalid Saifullah, founder of Missing Voters app—that allows users to check if they are present on the voters’ list.
But that may be because most Muslims and Dalits are economically backward, Saifullah told during an interaction. “About 42 percent Muslims are illiterate as per census data and the same goes for Dalits,” he said.
“Because of their economical background, they don’t stay in the same location for more than four years and hence, can be missed out at the booth level verification.”
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Still, how big is the issue of missing voters and what can the Election Commission and individual voters do?
The number looks unusually high and the Election Commission is duty-bound to deal with it urgently and transparently, said Jagdeep Chhokar, founder member of Association for Democratic Reform.
