Chief Electoral Officer Satyabrata Sahoo has directed action against election officials who allowed actor Sivakarthikeyan to cast his vote on April 18 though his name was missing from the electoral rolls.
As for the complaint that the names of a large number of electors were missing from the rolls in Kanniyakumari district, Mr. Sahoo said a preliminary report had been submitted in this regard, according to which over 55,000 names had been included since September 1, 2018 and around 10,000 names had been deleted after verification.
When the draft electoral rolls were published on September 1, 2018, there were 14.47 lakh voters in Kanniyakumari district, and after the summary revision on January 31 this year, there were 14.77 lakh voters. A total of 37,731 voters were included and 7,671 names deleted in the district, he said.
“So, there is no official data to show mass deletion of names in the district,” he added.
Also, between January 31 and April 5, a total of 18,791 voters were added and 2,371 names deleted in the district, he said.
When asked whether the deleted names were from specific areas, Mr. Sahoo said a detailed report, which was awaited, would shed light on that.
Regarding the incident in Madurai where four officials entered the storage room adjoining the strong room where EVMs and VVPAT units were kept, the CEO said a report would be submitted by Additional CEO M. Balaji, who was probing the incident.
“The Election Commission is the final authority in all cases,” he said, when asked whether any action would follow. To a query whether the Madurai Collector would be transferred, as was being demanded by some political parties, the CEO said he was waiting for the detailed report.
A meeting to review the security arrangements in counting centres across the State had been scheduled at 4 p.m. on Wednesday. All District Collectors, the respective Superintendents of Police and senior officers would take part, he said.