‘Fake’ voters: EC blames multiple applications, technical glitches

Issue of “fake voters” had been raised after a petition was filed by former Congress MLA Naresh Kumar.

Delhi Chief Electoral Officer Chandra Bhushan Kumar during a press conference. (Source: Express Photo by Praveen Khanna)

The Election Commission (EC) has admitted there are “several mistakes” in the electoral rolls in Delhi. The office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Delhi also blamed “multiple applications by voters” and “technical glitches” for the huge number of “bogus voters” in the electoral lists.

The issue of “fake voters” had been raised after a petition was filed by former Congress MLA candidate Naresh Kumar in December, alleging that a door-to-door survey had found over 41,000 “bogus” voters in his constituency, Mundka. The High Court had refused to issue a stay on the announcement of elections, but had asked the EC and CEO to revise the voter lists and submit a report on the reasons for the errors.

In its affidavit submitted to the Delhi High Court on Monday, the EC and CEO Delhi stated that “some mistakes figured in the electoral lists and the same is being rectified. The rectification will go on till filing of nominations by party candidates”.

Further, in a letter sent to the All India Congress Committee in response to its complaint regarding bogus voters, the CEO’s office admitted there are over two lakh “incorrect” entries in the electoral rolls, which include 1,20,605 duplicated images and 89,156 “probable multiple electors” in different polling stations in the same district.

The total number of registered voters in Delhi are 1,30,85,251. The letter has also admitted that almost 1.2 lakh names have been deleted from the rolls and supplementary lists will be issued by the last date of filing nominations after verification and deletion of names.

In the affidavit filed before the court of Justice Vibhu Bakhru, the EC said it is trying to verify the voter lists with Adhaar cards, so that there are “less chances of mistakes”. Further, the affidavit states that detailed reports had been called from the returning officers of each district. The hearing in the case is scheduled for Tuesday.

In the letter sent to the AICC, the CEO office has given some more details, claiming that ADM-level inquiries had been constituted in each district and a “preliminary assessment” had indicated that the “prima facie reasons” for the errors were “multiple applications by an elector” in situations where the same person had applied for enrollment using more than one mode of application, as well as “errors in the data entry” due to the huge number of voters. A third reason given by the CEO is “technical glitches” in the IT system.

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The reply sent to the AICC also states that the election commission had issued “strict instructions” to check “additional photo ID cards” for each person at the polling booths, and to put “thick indelible ink” and “recheck at the exit points” to see that the ink has not been removed.

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