A tweet carrying a snapshot of The Times of India report reading “EC ambassador Dravid not on voter’s list….. His name was deleted from voter’s list but was not re-included” is doing rounds.

The tweet by Rishikesh Yadav reads "Rahul Dravid Vote deleted, ironically EC made him the ambassador for them in 2019 election ."

Arvind Kejriwal official twitter handle and Vishal Dadlani are among notable who have tagged the tweet in the thread. Arvind Kejriwal tweeted to question the credibility of the election commission and asked how can we expect free and fair elections.

Link to original tweet.

Two days after Election Commission of India was pulled-up by Supreme Court for remaining silent over hate-speech in Uttar Pradesh, the independent body is in the spotlight again.

The Karnataka state Election Commission’s Ambassador Rahul Dravid, whose hording and billboards urge voters to exercise their franchise at various places in the city won’t be able to vote this General Election. The former cricket captain’s name doesn’t feature in the final electoral list published on March 16. The news is confirmed by various portals.

The truth behind the deletion of Rahul's name

Second part of the news which portrays – His name was deleted from the voter’s list but not re-included appears gullible. Fact Hunt explains;

As collected from a report published by The Times of India, Rahul has moved to a new house from Indiranagar to Ashwath Nagar in Bengaluru. Report brings out that after Dravid’s brother Vijay, submitted (form 7) for deletion of name on October 31, 2018, a booth level electoral officer visited the cricketers Indiranagar residence and conducted ‘mahazhar’ deletion in presence of Vijay and deleted names of Vijitha and Dravid Domlur Sub-Divisional Assistant Basavarajo Magi confiremed.

Former cricketer was supposed to submit form 6 for the inclusion of names which he couldn't, as the cricketer was in Spain then. BBMP Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad, also a district electoral officer had recorded that ‘Anyone in the family can submit form seven for the deletion of name stating that the said person was not living in the designated address. But it is left to the person concerned to submit form 6 to the respective jurisdictional officer to include his or her name in voter list.”

Moreover, Mathiekere Sub-Divisional Assistant electoral returning officer Roopa said booth level officers had visited Dravid’s house during the special drive. “Our officials visited his, the house we were informed Dravid is touring abroad and there is no message from him to include his name in voters list” she added.

On Monday electoral officers met Rahul Dravid and accepted fresh form 6 and requisition letter which the Chief Electoral Officer of state had submitted to CEC.

However, The Times of India report expresses that Sandeep Saxena the deputy electoral chief officer held that “It has been conveyed to Chief Electoral Officer of Karnataka that nothing can be done now.” The state goes on poll today.

Conclusion: Rahul Dravid's name was not deleted by EC due to some mistake as suggested by Arvind Kejriwal and Vishal Dadlani. The name was deleted after his brother requested for it as Rahul moved to a new address.