A senior aviation official, who spent decades ensuring flights operated safely over India’s eastern skies, can no longer vote.
Rajender Singh Lahauria, 61, served in air traffic control (ATC) for more than 25 years, including as director of Patna airport and later as executive director of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) in Delhi. Three days ago, he found out that his name had been deleted from the voter list.
Lahauria, currently working with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in Delhi, is a resident of Baguiati and a registered voter in the Rajarhat Assembly constituency.
“After ensuring flights operate safely for so many years, I didn’t deserve this,” Lahauria said on Thursday. “I have filed an appeal but have yet to receive any communication from the Election Commission of India.”
He added: “We had to take clearance periodically from the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) to work at the ATC towers. Even after being cleared by the BCAS for decades, my citizenship is in question now.”
Lahauria also served as general manager of Calcutta’s air traffic control, with his office in the ATC tower at the airport.
When he checked the EC website earlier this week, a message on a supplementary list read: “Excluded. Refer: Deleted list dated 27.03.2026”. His wife has made it to the voter rolls.
The EC released 15 post-SIR supplementary lists since March 23, removing over 27 lakh under-adjudication voters.
“I called our BLO, but she said there was nothing she could do now,” he said.
Lahauria was not on the 2002 voter list. He obtained his voter card in 2011. “I was in a transferable job and never got a chance to apply for a voter ID earlier,” he said.
“I am from Punjab. But I liked Calcutta so much that I decided to settle here. I bought an apartment off VIP Road and plan to stay here after my current assignment with the DGCA,” he said.
In February, Lahauria received a call from someone identifying himself as an assistant to the BLO. The man asked Lahauria and his wife to attend an SIR hearing.
“There was no formal notice, just the phone call,” he said.
Lahauria told the man he was in Delhi and would not be able to appear for the hearing. “He said I could send a representative,” Lahauria said.
During the hearing, Lahauria’s representative submitted documents, and the officials said there would be no problem. “I had submitted all documents, including Aadhaar card, voter ID and PAN card,” he said.
Some of his former colleagues at the ATC advised him to seek legal help if the EC did not respond to his appeal against the exclusion.
“Right now, I would like to wait and watch. I hope the commission rectifies the error,” he said.
Metro reported on Thursday that numerous voters whose names have been deleted are seeking assistance from lawyers in the absence of any clear guidance on how they should proceed.