Government agency penalised for excluding couple from voters' list

Chandigarh, Nov 7 (IANS) The Haryana State Electronics Development Corporation (Hartron), an agency of the state government, has been penalised Rs.100,000 for excluding the names of a man and his wife from the voters' list after an application was filed under the Right to Information Act.

Satpal Singh, who runs an NGO 'Anti Corruption Society' here, found that his name and that of his wife were excluded from the voters' list in the Chandigarh electoral roll issued Nov 22, 2007.

Singh filed an RTI application with the Chief Electoral Officer, Chandigarh, seeking the reason for the exclusion of their names.

'After an inquiry, Hartron, the company responsible for preparation, revision or any other correction in the electoral roll, was found guilty of unnecessarily omitting the two names without giving any reasonable reasons,' he told IANS.

'The company was penalised and the amount was deducted by chief electoral officer from their bills. Our names were again registered on the electoral roll and I got a letter from the electoral officer in this regard a few weeks back,' Satpal Singh added.

'I have specific proof showing that there are thousands of other voters in Chandigarh whose names have been removed without giving any reason. This is an offence according to Representation of People Act, 1950.

'I am again filing an application under the RTI Act seeking the reasons for the exclusion of the other names.'