In Bengal's Mayapur 2002 Voter List, Parents' Names Listed As ISKCON Spiritual Gurus

Massive discrepancies were reported from the 2002 voter list in West Bengal's Mayapur, where many ISKCON devotees cast their vote at the Sri Sri Thakur Bhaktivinod Lower Primary School in the Nabadwip Assembly constituency. The names of parents in the list were replaced with the names of their spiritual gurus.

According to Sharadwati Chowdhury, the Sub-Divisional Officer, a parent's name must be mentioned on the list.

"No new entries can be added using the name of a spiritual master. Whatever was recorded in previous identity documents must be written in the same way now. The father's or the mother's name must be mentioned. Only the block election roll officer would be able to confirm whether these names were corrected in the current voter list," Chowdhury said.

On the other hand, Manish Gupta, the block development officer of Nabadwip, claimed that in the case of monks from various monasteries and temples, identity documents may be created using the name of the spiritual gurus. He further said that since many renounce worldly life after taking monastic vows, they choose their spiritual guru as their guardian. "In such cases, their identity documents are created with the spiritual father's name. Sometimes, after such documents are created, they later apply for new identity documents using their previous names or the names of their biological parents. Often, when the first identity document is issued, problems arise when they try to revert to their previous identity," he said.

He added that without reviewing their current identity documents, it is impossible to determine what their present status is. 

In the past, there have been cases where, after taking monastic vows, identity documents were created with the spiritual guru's name, and new documents were created later with their own or their father's name.