Gujarat: After their houses were razed, names of 700 fishermen deleted from voters’ lists

Gafoor Pateliya, a leader of fishermen said that out of around 350 fishermen who were registered voters in Gandhvi, names of around 347 have been deleted from electoral rolls. “Only three names have been retained while the rest have been deleted. Similarly, out of 225 voters in Navadra, names of 224 have been deleted.

“After we lost our houses to the demolition drive undertaken by the state government in March last year, fishermen from Gandhvi and Navadra shifted their bases to Rupen harbour near Dwarka town as well as in Madhavpur in Porbandar, Mangrol in Junagadh and Hirakot in Gir Somnath district. However, while the demolition drive was in progress, a senior police officer asked us not to apply for changes in address in our Aadhaar card, voter’s identity cards and PAN cards, saying we might get to stay in Gandhvi and Navadra itself.

So, we didn’t apply for any change in these documents but now we are finding our names missing from voter’s lists,” 45-year-old Gafoor whose extended family’s 10 members were registered as voters in Gandhvi says. Both Gafoor and Ayyub relocated to Madhavpur after their homes were razed in March last year during a mega demolition drive.

The government had termed their homes and sheds in Gandhvi, a village near temple of goddess Harsiddhi as encroachment on government land. Gafoor said that all whose names have been deleted from voter lists of Gandhvi and Navadra belong to the minority community and that they had voted in the Gujarat Assembly election conducted in December 2022.

JD Patel, Deputy Election Officer of Devbhumi Dwarka, said that names had been deleted but said that it was done after due process.

“Approximately 700 names were deleted from voters’ lists of these villages in July last year. However, it was done after following due process,” Patel told The Indian Express, adding, “As is required by the law, these voters were served notices individually.

Afterwards, a public notice was displayed at the concerned village panchayat asking why names should not be deleted from electoral rolls.

But no one responded. Eventually, based on reports of village sarpanches and talatis (village panchayat clerks) to the effect that these people were no longer living in Gandhvi and Navadra, the electoral registration officer of Dwarka, who is also the sub-divisional magistrate of Dwarka, ordered deletion of their names from electoral rolls.” Patel added that names of those who had been found in the villages were retained in the list. “Around 48 individuals from the affected areas were found in the villages during the exercise of rolls revision and therefore , their names have been retained in the rolls,” said Patel, adding, “Draft electoral rolls were published and displayed at respective village panchayat offices and no one objected to deletion of approximately 700 names in those draft electoral rolls.”

The Deputy Election Officer further said that these fishermen had the option of getting their names registered at the place where they have relocated to post the demolition.