Discrepancy in voters’ list high in Ernakulam, UDF approaches EC

KOCHI: With multiple entries in voters’ list coming under the scanner of the State Election Commission in the light of the coming assembly elections, it has emerged that the discrepancy in electoral rolls existed in several assembly segments in Ernakulam also. The UDF has gathered details of double votes in the respective constituencies and lodged a complaint with the Election Commission. 

Hibi Eden, MP said that there are 2,238 persons with double votes in Ernakulam constituency alone. In the Thrikkakara constituency, as many as 1,975 double votes have been identified. Congress leader MP Sivadathan approached the Election Commission claiming that there are 2,572 double votes in the Kochi constituency. 

“We suspect that such entries happened with the knowledge of the authorities concerned . We have written to the Election Commission in this regard and the Chief Electoral Officer has promised us that action will be initiated,”  said the Ernakulam MP. According to Hibi, these double votes had proved decisive in the last local body elections. “ In the last local body polls, we lost power in Kochi corporation  by two or three seats. In most of the wards, the victory margin of LDF candidates was less than 50 votes. These dubious double votes were the main factor behind the LDF victory. The UDF candidates, who lost in the local body polls, have legally challenged the verdict. We will pursue the related cases in the coming days,” Hibi said. 

M P Sivadathan, who is the Chief Election Agent in the Kochi constituency, urged the authorities to take the matter in all its seriousness. “We handed over the names of voters having double votes in the constituency to the District Election Officer directly. And we are pretty optimistic that the officer will ensure that there will not be dual voting in Kochi constituency this time,” he said.  AICC spokesman Randeep Singh Surjewala, who was here as part of the Congress election  campaign on Thursday, said that the LDF now stands for lies, deception and fraud. “Pinarayi Vijayan is  a self-anointed captain of Kerala.

However under his captaincy, the Gods Own Country became infamous for fraud, corruption, crime and cheating,” he said.  Surjewala said during the tenure of  Pinarayi Vijayan government, the unemployment rate in Kerala -- with around 48% of youth, especially those highly qualified unable to land a job --   was the highest in the country. Amid this, the Kerala Public Service Commission is providing jobs through the CPM office which is the point of backdoor entry to government jobs. Referring to the deep-sea fishing deal with US company KMCC, since cancelled,  he said that there won’t be any fishermen in the state if the LDF were voted back to power.

He claimed that it is due to the understanding between Pinarayi Vijayan and PM, that the probe into the gold smuggling case hasn’t reached anywhere. “This is a deceptive tactic by the CPM and the BJP. Both the parties level allegations against each other in the gold smuggling case. But despite having enough evidence against CM, no case has been registered against him until now,” he said.