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Thiruvananthapuram; Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala has flagged more cases of multiple voter entries in the voters list, in 10 more constituencies across the state.
In his letter to chief electoral officer Teeka Ram Meena on Thursday, Chennithala said there are more such cases where same voter has been added more than once in the voters’ list and are holding more than one voters’ ID card. He cited the cases of Kannur (1,743 duplicate voters), Koothuparambu (2,795), Kalpetta (1,795), Thavanur (4,395), Pattambi (2,400), Chalakudy (2,063), Perumbavoor (2,286), Udumbanchola (1,168), Vaikom (1,606) and Adoor (1,283) constituencies. The opposition leader also submitted photocopies of voters list to substantiate his claims.
“Our workers are working on mission mode to unearth each and every irregularity in the voters’ ID. I request you to rectify the discrepancies after examining the data enclosed at the earliest and take steps to punish the guilty,” he said.
On Wednesday, the opposition leader had released the first list of bogus voters which he said was incomplete. The list included 4,506 bogus voters in Kazhakootam constituency, 4,672 in Vattiyoorkavu, 2,534 in Kollam, 1,436 in Trikaripur, 4,611 in Koyilandy, 6,171 in Nadapuram, 3,225 in Koothuparamba and 4,750 in Ambalappuzha. He alleged that in all the 140 constituencies in the state, bogus voters have been added in this manner.
The commission undertakes summary revision, updation and purification of electoral rolls in an elaborate manner. The large number of duplicate names as pointed out by the opposition leader is a serious matter of concern that can even affect the results in constituencies where the fight is close. The commission updates the electoral rolls by giving opportunity for public as well as political parties to raise their objections regarding any entries in the list when the draft list is published. The commission also runs software during the purification of rolls, to weed out duplicate entries.
The chief electoral officer has asked district collectors of all these constituencies to investigate and file a report before March 20. He has also asked them to take legal action against the culprits if the charges are found true.