Mangaluru The Election Commission on Monday issued a notice to Padma Shri winner Harekala Hajabba in connection with the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, but subsequently resolved the issue within a few hours.

Hajabba’s name was recorded as merely ‘Hajabba’ in the 2002 electoral rolls of the Mangalore (formerly Ullal) Assembly constituency. However, his name is recorded as Harekala Hajabba in his ration card, Aadhaar, passport and voter identity card. It is learnt that the notice was issued because of the mismatch in his name.

Hajabba said the booth level officer (an anganwadi worker) served him the notice on Monday and asked him to appear for verification at the gram panchayat on September 11 with supporting documents to provide an explanation.

After learning that a notice had been issued to Hajabba, officials immediately visited his residence, collected the documents to correct the discrepancy within a few hours.

Officials said they had been instructed to resolve such discrepancies involving “prominent” voters at the initial stage itself without issuing notices. However, the error occurred. “As soon as we came to know about the issue, we contacted Harekal Hajabba and resolved the issue,” the officials said.

Hajabba, an orange seller-social activist, started a school in his village from his meagre earning. He won the Padma Shri in 2020.