Preliminary investigations by the District Collectors have revealed that there is merit, to an extent, in the complaint lodged by Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala regarding multiple entries of voter names in the electoral rolls, Chief Electoral Officer Teeka Ram Meena has said.
The probes have revealed 590 double entries in the rolls in the Vaikom segment, 434 in Idukki district, 570 in Chalakudy segment, 800 in Palakkad, and 640 in Kasaragod. Mr. Chennithala had alleged 3,767 and 4,395 double entries respectively in Kozhikode and Tavanur. In Kozhikode, the probe confirmed 50% of the alleged double entries to be true and in Tavanur, 70%. “These are not the final figures. The investigation is in progress,” Mr. Meena said.
The Assistant Electoral Registration Officer (AERO), Uduma, has been placed under suspension after it was found that approval was given for the issue of five cards to one voter. The cards were approved although the booth-level officer (BLO) had not recommended it. The four additional cards have been cancelled and an investigation is on, Mr. Meena said.
“We have ordered investigation in all the 140 constituencies. BLOs are carrying out physical inspection at the field level. They will prepare booth-wise lists and share them with the presiding officers,” he said.
‘Not a new issue’
Mr. Meena said the problem of double entries is not new. Across India, the number of Demographically Similar Entries (DSE) in the electoral rolls stands at over 26 lakh, he said. “It has been occurring from time to time,” he said.
He cited several reasons for the presence of double entries. Between January 20, when the final voters’ list was published, and March 9, election officials had received 9.16 lakh applications for inclusion in rolls. However, 100% physical verification by BLOs could not be carried out due to COVID-19. “Before January 20, we had removed around 60,000 double entries,” he said.
Multiple applications
Multiple applications filed online by an individual are not automatically rejected, which could lead to multiple entries. Besides, this time, the Election Commission of India had advised poll-bound States to focus on the speedy disposal of pending forms rather than on DSEs. The removal of DSEs will be undertaken after the elections, Mr. Meena said.
Mr. Meena said that even if somebody’s name was present in the rolls in three or four places, the person would be allowed to vote only in one place. Apart from webcasting, extra vigilance will be maintained at all polling booths to ensure that elections are conducted fairly, he said.
Mr. Chennithala had said that he had passed on information regarding 2,16,510 ‘bogus voters’ to the Election Commission through multiple complaints.