Is Sivakarthikeyan's vote "illegal"? Here is why EC officials in trouble for letting actor exercise his right

Days after the Lok Sabha polling in Tamil Nadu, Sivakarthikeyan's participation in the voting process has created a controversy. The actor was reportedly given special permission to cast his vote despite his name not in the voter's list.

Sathyabrata Sahoo, Chief Electoral Officer of Tamil Nadu, has sought an action against the officials who let the actor cast his vote even though his name was not featured in the list. "Although his name was on the voter's list, he was allowed to vote. It is a blunder committed by the officials from the polling both. I have ordered action against them," he told the reporters.

The Seema Raja actor had cast his vote at the Good Shepherd School polling booth in Valasaravakkam. His wife's name was in the list, but his name was missing.

After casting his vote after the initial hiccup, Sivakarthikeyan told reporters that he got "special permission" to exercise his right. He had also shared his excitement on Twitter after getting inked.

He captioned a photo and tweeted, "Voting is your right and fight for your right."

However, he is not only the actor who has been permitted to vote under similar circumstance. Srikanth was allowed to vote at a polling booth in Saligramam. But it is not clear whether action will be taken against the officials in this case.

Surprisingly, actors like Ramesh Khanna and Robo Shankar were not lucky as Sivakarthikeyan and Srikanth as they were not allowed to vote after their names went missing in the electoral roll.

The second phase of 2019 Lok Sabha Elections was held on April 18 in 95 seats in 11 states and one union territory (Puducherry).