Padma Shri Awardee Harekala Hajabba Gets SIR Notice Over Name Discrepancy

Harekala Hajabba received India's fourth-highest civilian award Padma Shri in 2020 for his work in promoting education. Six years later, he received a notice from the Election Commission over discrepancies.

The orange seller-turned-educationist received the EC notice on Monday as part of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Karnataka.

The notice has been issued over a discrepancy in the name recorded in the electoral rolls.

According to sources, the Padma Shri awardee's name was recorded as only 'Hajabba' in the old 2002 voter list, while his name in subsequent official records is 'Harekala Hajabba'.

Hajabba currently has the name 'Harekala Hajabba' on his Aadhaar card, ration card, passport and new voter ID, as well as in documents related to his Padma Shri and other awards.

The Election Commission's notice to the literacy activist came through Anganwadi workers, who visited his residence and served it. They directed him to appear before the gram panchayat on September 11 with all the required original documents to present his case.

According to sources, Hajabba expressed confidence that the discrepancy would be resolved after the documents are examined.

During the hearing, a village accountant will be present at the gram panchayat where the activist is going to submit all his documents for verification.

Harekala Hajabba was a fruit seller who earned his living by selling oranges on the streets and at a bus stand in Mangaluru, Karnataka.

He became nationally renowned for using his daily savings from his fruit-selling business to build a primary school in his native village of Newpadapu.

Hajabba is among the nearly-44 lakh people of Karnataka who are set to get notices during the Karnataka SIR's "disposal of claims and objections phase", which will be conducted between August 24 and October 22.

The Karnataka SIR began on June 30. According to the state chief electoral officer, over 43.81 lakh notices have been generated as part of the ongoing SIR of electoral rolls, of which 7.31 lakh have so far been delivered to electors.

The notices have been issued to electors whose names fall under the "no mapping" and "anomalies" categories as part of the electoral roll revision exercise, officials said.

The final electoral roll will be published on October 27.