Bengaluru, Sep 9 (IANS): No notice has been issued to Bharat Ratna awardee and renowned scientist Professor C.N. Rao in connection with the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Bengaluru City District Election Officer and Chief Commissioner for Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) Maheshwar Rao clarified on Wednesday.
The clarification came after reports appeared in some sections of the media claiming that a notice had been served on the 92-year-old scientist over a discrepancy in his name in the electoral rolls.
Maheshwar Rao said that, as part of the SIR exercise, Enumeration Forms were personally delivered to Professor C.N. Rao and his family members at their residence by officials, including the state’s SVEEP nodal officer and the Commissioner of the Bengaluru West City Municipal Corporation.
The officials also assisted the family in filling in the required information, he said.
According to the Election Officer, Professor C.N. Rao was listed as an elector in Part No.129, Serial No.431 of the electoral roll of the erstwhile 76-Malleswaram Assembly constituency in 2002. His name was recorded as ‘Ram’ in that electoral roll.
At present, Professor Rao is registered as an elector in Part No. 59, Serial No. 187 of the 157-Malleswaram Assembly constituency under the name “Professor C.N. Rao M”. His name has also been included in the draft electoral roll.
Maheshwar Rao clarified that although there was a discrepancy in the name appearing in the electoral records, the Booth Level Officer (BLO) did not issue any notice to Professor Rao in connection with the SIR hearing process.
Considering Professor Rao’s status as a “respected person”, the BLO instead recommended that his name be retained and included in the final electoral roll, the Election Officer said.
Necessary steps have accordingly been initiated to include Professor C.N. Rao’s name in the final electoral roll, Rao said.
It can be recalled that it was reported that Professor Rao received a notice on Wednesday, in connection with the ongoing SIR of electoral rolls in Karnataka over a spelling mismatch in his name.
The reports claimed that the notice issued to Professor Rao cites “self-name mismatch” as the reason. While his name reportedly appears in the older electoral rolls as “Prof C.N.R. Rao”, the current electoral roll contains an additional “f” in the professional title, recording it as “Proff C.N.R. Rao”.
According to reports the discrepancy had resulted in the veteran scientist being asked to establish his identity as part of the electoral roll verification process.
It was stated that Professor Rao has reportedly been asked to appear for a hearing in Malleshwaram, near the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), to clarify the discrepancy and establish his identity.
The clarification in this regard puts to rest reports that the Bharat Ratna awardee had been summoned for a hearing over a spelling mismatch in his name as part of the ongoing electoral roll revision exercise.
