Sec 10A RWA polls: Official removed names from voter list, say residents

Gurgaon: Residents of Sector 10A have demanded that the returning officer (RO) appointed by the district registrar to conduct RWA elections be removed, alleging that he is involved in unlawful practices.
The RWA polls will be held on July 21. Some residents have alleged that their names have been removed from the voter list.
The previous RWA’s tenure expired last month, after which district registrar Ishwar Singh Yadav constituted an ad-hoc committee for conducting the election of a new RWA. He appointed Col R L Yadav (retired) as RO to ensure that the polls went smoothly.
The ad-hoc committee, which comprises members of the previous RWA, prepared a voter list. It was handed over to the RO and put on the sector’s notice board for residents. Objections to the list were also welcomed.
Residents claimed that they had voting rights earlier, and because of a conspiracy, their names were struck off the list. “Under the pressure of some persons, the RO agreed to delete the names of 42 people from the voter list, which has a total of 869 members. This is unlawful, arbitrary and unjust. The RO has no right to add or delete any name as per norms. In the RWA by-laws, it is clearly mentioned that he has to conduct the election according to the voter list which is given to him,” said Randhir Singh Deswal, a resident.
Another resident, Vimal Kumar, said: “This person (the RO) has made environment of the sector very unpleasant. All those people whose names have been deleted fulfil all the conditions of being a member of RWA and hence they are entitled to vote. We demand removal of the inexperienced RO from our area.”
Asked about the matter, the returning officer confirmed that some names were removed from the voter list as he received objections regarding them.
“The list was put on the notice board welcoming any objections. I received objections for 42 names as they are not primary owners of joint properties. As per the law of the firms and societies, only the first owner of any property is eligible to vote. After investigation, we concluded that 35 names were not eligible to be on the voter list. We have included the remaining seven names back in the list. I have no clue why those names were included in the voter list earlier,” Col Yadav added.