Former Indian cricket captain and the mascot of the Karnataka State Election Commission, Rahul Dravid will not be able to cast his vote this Lok Sabha election, Deputy Chief Election Commissioner Sandeep Saxena told TNM. On Sunday, it was reported that the former cricketer will not be able to vote as his name had not figured in the voter list.
Following this, it was also speculated that Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora will take a decision if Dravid’s name can be included in the list on an exceptional basis. However, Sandeep Saxena told TNM on Tuesday that this will not be possible.
Rahul Dravid was set to vote from Bengaluru North constituency on April 18 as 14 seats in Karnataka will go to polls as part of the second phase of general elections across the country.
“The law clearly states that the last day of application for the inclusion of names is seven days ahead of the candidate’s last date of filing nominations for that particular phase. This (the application) did not happen and Rahul Dravid’s name inclusion is legally not possible now,” Saxena told TNM.
Following reports of the exclusion of the Election Commission’s brand ambassador himself from the voter list, Sunil Arora on Sunday had reportedly sought a report from Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer Sanjeev Kumar.
It was reported on Sunday that Rahul Dravid, who has boards and billboards across the state with his face urging people to vote, had not followed the due process on time to get his name added in the voters’ list from his new residence in RMV Extension, which comes under Bengaluru North constituency. As Dravid had moved from his Indiranagar residence to Ashwathnagar, his brother Vijay had submitted Form 7 (for deletion of names from the list) during a special drive carried out by the Election Commission in the area.
After this, Dravid had to add his name to the new list by filling form 6 of the Election Commission by March 16. However, Dravid learnt about this only after March 16. He contacted the officials concerned but by then it was too late.
Additional Chief Electoral Officer KN Ramesh on Sunday had said, "He had to submit Form 6 before March 16, otherwise nothing can be done. We came to know about this only after we finalised the electoral rolls. Our officials must have visited his home and if he had then informed us that he had got his name deleted from the Indiranagar list, we could have done something.”