Bengaluru: The Chief Electoral Officer’s (CEO) office has rejected media reports claiming that Bharat Ratna awardee and renowned scientist Prof CNR Rao was served a notice over a discrepancy in his name in the electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.
The election authorities clarified that neither Prof Rao nor any member of his family was issued a notice in connection with the discrepancy. The clarification came following reports published under the headline “SIR: Bharat Ratna CNR Rao gets notice over name discrepancy,” which the authorities said contained information contrary to facts.
According to the official clarification, Prof Rao is enrolled as a voter in Part no 59 of the 157-Malleswaram Assembly constituency. During the SIR exercise, officials noticed a difference between the name appearing in the current draft electoral roll and the 2002 electoral roll.
His name in the draft roll is recorded as “Proff C.N.R. Rao S/O Nagesh Rav. H,” while the 2002 electoral roll carried the name “Rama S/O H. Nagesh”.
Senior election officials meet Prof Rao
Taking into account Prof Rao’s stature and his contribution to the country, senior election officials, including the state SVEEP nodal officer, the Bengaluru West municipal commissioner, the Malleswaram Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) and the local Booth Level Officer (BLO), personally visited his residence and delivered the enumeration form.
The CEO’s office stressed that the visit should not be construed as the serving of a notice. In view of the respect accorded to Prof Rao, no formal notice was issued to him, the authorities said.
Instead, the BLO recommended the relevant record directly to the Assistant Electoral Registration Officer (AERO) for approval. The AERO subsequently approved Prof. Rao’s name for inclusion in the final electoral roll on Tuesday.
To establish the sequence of events and counter the reports, the election authorities also released the official statements of the Malleswaram ERO along with video footage recorded by the local BLO during the visit to Prof Rao’s residence.
The CEO office maintained that the exercise was part of the electoral roll verification process and that the discrepancy in the historical records was addressed through the prescribed procedure without issuing any notice to the renowned scientist or his family.
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