‘Zero’ house numbers in Voter rolls? EC clarifies the mystery

New Delhi: Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on Sunday addressed several claims made by the Congress party, including allegations of “vote chori,” voters with zero house numbers, manipulation of electoral rolls, and the inability to provide machine-readable voter lists.

Speaking in what appeared to be a point-by-point rebuttal to Rahul Gandhi’s recent charges, Kumar clarified that electors listed with zero house numbers were not fraudulent entries. He also dismissed controversy surrounding the reported 22 lakh “sudden deaths” in Bihar’s electoral rolls as unjustified.

On voters with zero house numbers, Rahul Gandhi had claimed at a recent press conference that many electors in the Bangalore Central constituency had their house numbers listed as zero, suggesting deceit by the poll body.

Explaining the matter, Kumar said such instances occur in both villages and towns where house numbers have not been allotted by local authorities.

“In many urban centres, a large number of unauthorised colonies don’t have house numbers. As per EC norms, they are given notional numbers, and when entered in the system, they round off as zero. In addition to this, many homeless people, registered as voters, also have their house addresses mentioned as zero,” he said.

Kumar added, “If somebody claims that they are fraud voters, then it is an insult to democracy. EC stands behind them and will ensure that they get their right to vote.”