Efforts on to weed out bogus voters, says joint collector

Anantapur: In the run-up to the general elections due in 2014, revenue officials have identified a large number of bogus voters in the electoral rolls of Anantapur region.

Believe it or not, the district administration in Kurnool identified a whopping 1.80 lakh bogus voters in the region.

Kurnool collector, Sudarshan Reddy, assured all steps were being initiated to weed out the bogus voters after thorough verification. Similar lists of bogus voters were discovered in the assembly constituencies of Anantapur and Kadapa districts as well.

The three main political parties in the region - Congress, Telugu Desam and YSRC - allegedly insisted their village level cadres to enroll maximum number of bogus voters from other segments and even neighbouring Karnataka.

Elections in the past have seen stiff competition between the three parties with candidates usually winning by narrow margins.

Sources said, an average of 12,000 to 20,000 bogus voters were enrolled in each assembly constituency.

Official data reveal around 1, 81, 195 listed voters in Uravakonda Assembly constituency in Anantapur district, which was in excess of 11, 000.

Revenue officials claim that staffers were mostly pressurised and in some cases even threatened to accommodate bogus voters. When asked, the parties tried passing the buck.

Anantapur joint collector, S. Satyanarayana said serious steps would be taken to cleanse the electoral rolls.