India, Sept. 8 -- Donald Joseph Rego (61) had no reason to prove that he was alive. Until the draft electoral roll published on August 24 under the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) told him otherwise.

The 61-year-old from Mangaluru South constituency's Bejai discovered his name was missing from the draft rolls and was listed instead under the "dead" category of the Absent, Shifted, Duplicate, Dead and Others (ASDDO) list.

The discovery kicked off a series of fruitless visits to election officials, said Rego. "I kept going from one office to another, and instead of taking responsibility, the officials kept directing me to someone else," he said, alleging that the assistant electoral officer (AERO) blamed the booth-level officer (...