Poll pooch

India’s election chief is the most hated government official in that country at the moment, with many young demonstrators demanding his resignation.

The demand, supported by opposition parties, stemmed from Election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s alleged revision of the country’s voter lists to favor the prime minister’s ruling party.

The revision reportedly removed more than 130 million voters, mostly Muslims and other minorities, from the lists for reasons such as changing their addresses, News India Times (NIT) reported.

The Election Commission denied the allegation and claimed that the names removed from the rolls were those of duplicate and ineligible voters. It said wrongly deleted voters could re-enroll, according to NIT.

Meanwhile, a voter rights restoration program intended for released prisoners in Virginia, USA, has been marred by controversy.

Republican lawmaker Tom Garrett, representing Buckingham County, demanded that Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger explain why the right to vote and serve on a jury of a non-voter was restored, Fox News reported.

Garrett learned about the anomaly from a constituent who reported to him that he had received a certificate from City Hall restoring the voting right of Biscuit, his pet beagle-hound mix, according to Fox News.

Biscuit, Garrett added, died about five years ago. A spokesperson for Spanberger denied the anomaly.

“Of course, we did not restore the rights of a dog. We cannot disclose this individual’s information, but we can tell you that it is associated with a person with a date of birth and Social Security number.”