Ex-cricketer, who is an election commission icon, cannot vote as he could not register his name on time.

Former Indian cricketer, Rahul Dravid, is the face of the election commission in southern Karnataka state but he will not be able to vote in the ongoing elections as his name is missing from the electoral rolls.

The Test cricket stalwart, who was made the brand ambassador for the election commission in the state, moved from Indiranagar to Ashwathnagar in Bengaluru, the IT hub of India, but failed to register his name in the new area that comes under Bangalore North Lok Sabha constituency.

“After he shifted his house, our staff visited his house many times to enrol him but he was travelling,” Karnataka’s Chief Electoral Officer, Sanjiv Kumar, told Al Jazeera.

“It’s too late to add his name now,” he said amid reports that millions of names of people, including 21 million women, have been missing from the voters’ list.

Dravid could not be reached for comment as he was travelling.

A senior cricket administrator and chairman of the Indian Premier League (IPL) – a hugely popular T20 tournament – urged the election commission to include his name.

“Amazed to know that brand ambassador of election commission Rahul Dravid who is appealing everyone to vote to save democracy, himself is not a voter. Even if he has not applied on time EC can always get included his name in the voter list,” Rajeev Shukla, who is also a senior Congress leader, tweeted.

Dravid, who was dubbed The Wall, quit international cricket after scoring more than 24,000 runs during his 16-year career.

Additional reporting by Sudipto Mondal from Bengaluru

Activists fear the names of millions of Indians have been deleted from the voters’ list [Francis Mascarenhas/Reuters]



