Forum for Good Governance (FGG), the non-government organisation, has urged the TS State Election Commission (SEC) and GHMC Commissioner to immediately rectify the “glaring errors” in the “uneven division” of voters in the 150 wards before elections are held to the urban local body in the capital.
In a communication to the SEC, GHMC Commissioner and the Principal Secretary of the Municipal Administration & Urban Development department on Wednesday, Forum secretary M. Padmanabha Reddy disclosed that at least 68 divisions had unequal distribution of voters from among the 150.
This was brought to the notice of the SEC and other authorities in 2015 also but no rectification was done and the same errors were sought to be continued for the forthcoming elections because no reorganisation of divisions or votes was proposed to be taken up.
Mr. Reddy pointed out that as per the division-wise draft electoral rolls released last week in GHMC, there were 74.04 lakh voters in the twin cities and they should be distributed equitably by 49,360 voters in each division as each division was expected to have about 50,000 rounded of to the nearest thousand.
However, the draft rolls showed that only 10% divisions conform to this and the rest of the 140 municipal divisions either had more than the average limit or less than the average limit. In exceptional cases like field problems in unable to demarcate boundaries due to lack of landmarks, a 10% deviation was generally allowed on either side “but this has to be an exception and not a rule”, he contended.
If the 10% deviation was allowed, each division should have either about 45,000 voters each on the lower side or 55,000 voters each on the higher side. Applying this criteria shows 68 divisions to be having either more or less than the prescribed average number of voters.
For instance, division 59 - Mylardevpally has 79,290 voters whereas division 112 - Ramachandrapuram has 27,831 voters only. “The haphazard work done earlier is being repeated again despite being pointed out then. GHMC had five years to rectify the obvious errors but did not do it. We feel it goes against the rules of natural justice and conducting polls with such defective division is a violation of law”, the secretary added.
