The Chief Electoral Officer of Kerala, Ratan U Kelkar, personally appearing for a hearing on the Special Intensive Revision has reignited discussion on the burden placed on citizens to remain on the voters’ list. Two days ago, the CEO appeared at a village office in Thiruvananthapuram after he and his family members were served a notice for hearing.
Kelkar was served notice after Election officials failed to trace his or his parents' names in the list of Karnataka, where he was living before shifting to Kerala. “I have mentioned in my enumeration form that I couldn’t find names of my parents or mine in the Karnataka list. So when my name was not matched with the 2002 list, a notice was served. Copies of passports of my wife, son and me were given at the hearing. Now we will be included in the final list. This is the process being followed for all whose names were not matched with the 2002 list,” he said.
Kelkar added that such notices were given to 19 lakh or 6.5 % voters. “There is a facility for people to submit these documents online, if they prefer. When I got the notice, I decided to appear in person,” he said.
Kelkar said that reports of him submitting ‘Form 6’ to be enrolled as a new voter were baseless. “My name was on the draft list. Notices can be given only to people who are in the draft list,” he added.
When asked about the questions of putting the burden on voters to ensure that they are on the list, Kelkar defended by saying that as proactive citizens, everyone has to do it to ensure that the electoral roll is pure.
On X (formerly twitter), journalist and academic Radhakrishnan RK termed it 'nonsensical' that CEO Kerala's name didn't figure in the 2002 list. In a video, Radhakrishnan questioned the decision of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to create the electoral roll based on the 2002 list, which, according to him, was done in a span of just five days then.
The X handle @Ceokerala responded saying that the facts were baseless. "Chief Electoral Officer of Kerala, Rathan U. Kelkar IAS appeared for the hearing in person because his and his family’s names could not be found in the 2002 Kerala electoral list. This was due to the fact that he was residing in Bengaluru with his family during that period. He has since completed the hearing process by submitting all necessary documents. It is worth noting that this demonstrates the transparency of our democracy; the fact that even high-ranking officials must follow standard procedures highlights the true beauty of the democratic process," it said.
The CEO, however, did not respond to the criticism of basing the list on the names in 2002 and in a hurried manner.