Karnataka: Techie flies in from US for poll but finds name struck off list

BENGALURU: A non-resident Indian (NRI), who claimed to be part of an overseas drive to raise awareness on NRI voting rights, himself failed to vote in the Karnataka assembly elections on Wednesday, after having come all the way to Davanagere from the United States to exercise his franchise.
Raghavendra Kamalakar Shet, 50, a US resident for the last 12 years and a service assurance director with an IT firm in Texas, has been flying down to India to cast his vote for the past several years.However, this time around, he was left disappointed after he found out that his name had been deleted from the electoral rolls.
Shet told TOI he landed in India last Friday and reached Davanagere, his hometown. "I planned to participate in voting and stay here till Saturday, but I was not able to cast my vote as my name had been deleted from the voters' list," he said.
Shet added that he had come to Davanagere in November 2022 and found his name on the electoral rolls upon checking it. He said his name was there when he ran one more check this January.
"In January, I was initially unable to find my name using my Election Photo Identity Card (EPIC) number. Later, upon re-entering my details, I found my name on the voters' list. So, I didn't bother to check again before leaving the US," Shet said.
On Wednesday, when he reached the polling booth located near his residence around 7am, he was shocked upon being informed by the electoral officers that his name had been struck off the list a few weeks ago.
Shet said he was part of an awareness drive to highlight the importance of NRI participation in voting during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Later, he became the convener of a political party's overseas social media division. "I took to social media to encourage my fellow Indians in the US to go to India and cast their votes, but I myself failed to exercise my right this time owing to some errors on the part of officials," he rued.