Not just bogus voters, but double votes also exist in voter's list: Chennithala
Kannur (Kerala): Raising fresh allegations of fraud in preparation of voters' list in Kerala ahead of April 6 assembly poll, Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala said many votes have been created in the name of a single voter in multiple constituencies and they should not be allowed to exercise their franchise.
There are as many as 1,09,693 such voters in the state and this anomaly was spread across all the 140 assembly constituencies, Chennithala told reporters here.
Earlier, he had pointed out that there were about four lakh bogus voters in the electoral rolls published by the Election Commission and stated that a "clear conspiracy" was behind such an attempt.
"Name of a voter in a particular constituency also appears in one or more other constituencies. All of them also have separate voter ID cards. This facilitates a voter to cast a second or third vote in other constituencies, after rubbing off the mark on the finger," he said.
Chief Electoral Officer Tikaram Meena had admitted that a preliminary investigation on a complaint by the leader of opposition in the assembly had revealed the presence of double entries in the voter's list and an electoral officer had been suspended, pending enquiry.
The CEO had also instructed the district collectors to further investigate and find similar anomalies.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had dismissed the allegations of conspiracy behind the double and multiple entries in the voters list and said there was no 'organised move' behind such discrepancies.
Vijayan also ridiculed Chennithala, saying such 'forgery' must have been done by Congressmen.
Responding to Vijayan, Chennithala sought strict action and rectification of irregularity from the EC and said he would hand over the necessary proof of double votes to the commission today itself.
In the wake of revelation by the gold smuggling case accused P S Sarith, Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan had no moral right to continue in office and should immediately resign, he added.
