VZCZCXYZ0005
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHCG #0030 0251047
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 251047Z JAN 08
FM AMCONSUL CHENNAI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1437
INFO RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 2935
RUEHCG/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS CHENNAI 000030 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KDEM ECON PREL IN
SUBJECT: KARNATAKA GOVERNOR WANTS STATE ELECTIONS BY MAY 28 
 
REFS: 07 CHENNAI 689 and previous 
 
¶1. (U) Karnataka Governor Rameshwar Thakur, speaking to reporters in 
Bangalore on January 23, said that he wants to see state elections 
happen before May 28.  (Thakur has administered the state since the 
imposition of "President's Rule" in November, when the state's 
legislature demonstrated that it was unable to form a viable 
government -- see reftels.)  Thakur also reminded the press that May 
28 will mark six months of President's Rule, the legal limit. 
Although though the national parliament can renew the mandate, 
Thakur said that he intends to end President's Rule by that date. 
 
Voter registration problems 
--------------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) Press reports have also highlighted problems with voter 
registration in Karnataka, a process that has been underway for 
several months.  The new voter rolls reportedly contain more than 
two million new voters.  Politicians from across the political 
spectrum have alleged that the new list contains names of people 
that do not exist.  Karnataka's chief electoral officer has 
instructed his working-level officials to require new voters to fill 
out "Form 6," which is required of new registered voters.  Some of 
these officials have told journalists that it will be nigh 
impossible to chase down all of the new registered voters and that 
they will be unlikely to get even 80,000 of them to fill in Form 6. 
 
The mess behind the mess 
------------------------ 
 
¶3. (SBU) A senior assistant to Governor Thakur told us that Union 
Home Minister Shivraj Patil had instructed the Governor to complete 
the electoral registration process by mid-February.  The assistant 
also told us that Karnataka's electoral commission has few resources 
of its own and had to rely on a motley gaggle of seconded low-level 
bureaucrats, teachers, and health workers to complete the voter 
registration process.  These workers received no extra compensation 
for this task, were poorly motivated, and were often harassed by 
local politicians to ensure that the poll workers focused on 
neighborhoods where the politicians had the most supporters.  These 
poll workers therefore had little incentive to make sure that the 
job was done properly the first time and are reluctant to head back 
out again to complete the tedious task of getting the new registered 
voters to fill out Form 6. 
 
HOPPER