Deletion of voters: Andhra Pradesh police files 45 cases
Syed Akbar | TNN | Mar 3, 2019, 19:07 IST
Illustration for representational purposeVIJAYAWADA: The Election Commission of India is collecting information of IP addresses to identify people, who have lodged complaints seeking removal of names of eligible voters.
The move comes in the wake of charges and counter charges by the ruling TDP and main opposition YSRCP that thousands of eligible voters' name have been deleted for electoral advantage. As many as 45 cases have been registered so far.
“We have written to C-DAC for ascertaining the IP addresses so that further necessary investigations may be taken up by the police,” said chief electoral officer Gopal Krishna Dwivedi.
In a statement here on Sunday, Dwivedi assured the voters that no deletions are possible by bogus applications. “Any deletion is done only after detailed enquiry and verification and after ascertaining the genuineness of the application and only after the approval of the chief electoral officer,” he clarified.
Dwivedi said it was brought to the EC’s notice about a week ago that certain mischievous people are submitting Form-7 seeking deletions of the names in the voter list, en masse, in thousands of numbers, by online method, even though the voters exist, and they do not have any knowledge of such applications.
“This is a mischief and illegal act and needed to be curtailed strongly. Police were instructed to investigate and take criminal action in such cases if found true. District collectors were advised to lodge FIR for this kind of mischief, in case of receipt of genuine complaints,” he said.
He appealed to the voters to cooperate with the EC in identifying such mischief mongers so that strong action may be taken against them.
“Till now 45 FIRs under various Sections 120 B, 419, 420, 465, 471 of IPC, Sections 66, 66D of IT Act and Section 31 of R.P Act 1950 have been filed in Srikakulam (three complaints) East Godavari (14), Krishna (3), Guntur (1), Prakasam (4), Chittoor (3), Anantapur (1), Kurnool (8) and Visakhapatnam (8).
East Godavari district collector has initiated action against six Mee Seva staff found involved in this kind of act, he added.
The move comes in the wake of charges and counter charges by the ruling TDP and main opposition YSRCP that thousands of eligible voters' name have been deleted for electoral advantage. As many as 45 cases have been registered so far.
“We have written to C-DAC for ascertaining the IP addresses so that further necessary investigations may be taken up by the police,” said chief electoral officer Gopal Krishna Dwivedi.
In a statement here on Sunday, Dwivedi assured the voters that no deletions are possible by bogus applications. “Any deletion is done only after detailed enquiry and verification and after ascertaining the genuineness of the application and only after the approval of the chief electoral officer,” he clarified.
Dwivedi said it was brought to the EC’s notice about a week ago that certain mischievous people are submitting Form-7 seeking deletions of the names in the voter list, en masse, in thousands of numbers, by online method, even though the voters exist, and they do not have any knowledge of such applications.
“This is a mischief and illegal act and needed to be curtailed strongly. Police were instructed to investigate and take criminal action in such cases if found true. District collectors were advised to lodge FIR for this kind of mischief, in case of receipt of genuine complaints,” he said.
He appealed to the voters to cooperate with the EC in identifying such mischief mongers so that strong action may be taken against them.
“Till now 45 FIRs under various Sections 120 B, 419, 420, 465, 471 of IPC, Sections 66, 66D of IT Act and Section 31 of R.P Act 1950 have been filed in Srikakulam (three complaints) East Godavari (14), Krishna (3), Guntur (1), Prakasam (4), Chittoor (3), Anantapur (1), Kurnool (8) and Visakhapatnam (8).
East Godavari district collector has initiated action against six Mee Seva staff found involved in this kind of act, he added.
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