Forget IDs, 250 Muslims declared ‘missing’

Pathan wasn’t alone, though the others got less ludicrous reasons from the poll officials. At booth 311, 800-odd voters were turned away though they had voter identity cards.

It was afternoon when voters at this ‘‘sensitive’’ booth in the middle of the town realised so many had been told to go back home. Some said a community seemed to have been targeted, for more than 250 of those turned away were Muslims.

In vain they ran to the authorities, even to the local Congress office. ‘‘Their names must be missing because they failed to get themselves registered during revision of the rolls,’’ said S.L. Kanat, a mamlatdar posted as assistant election officer. ‘‘But their names were not struck off the rolls before sending them notices, to which they didn’t respond.’’ Pathan and others, however, said they had not received any such notice.

‘‘We’d moved out of Kapadvanj temporarily some time ago but that shouldn’t be the reason for snatching away my right to vote,’’ said Ilyas Pathan, whose whole family was declared missing.

Anupam, a district development officer posted as returning officer for Kapadvanj, said he’d heard of the missing names at the booth but since it was related to electoral rolls, the matter was in the jurisdiction of the district election office under the collector.

Congress workers complained that names were found missing in other booths too. Shankersinh Vaghela called it ‘‘BJP mischief’’ but admitted his party workers had failed to spot the missing names. Vaghela alleged that around 1,500 Congress supporters couldn’t vote as their names were not on the list.

The turnout must have worried underdog BJP candidate Liladhar Vaghela but he wasn’t showing it. ‘‘The voting was less than expected but it was good in our areas,’’ he said.