Congress complains to EC about ‘bogus’ votes in Kerala

Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala

New Delhi, (Samajweekly) A Congress delegation on Friday lodged a complaint with the Election Commission of India, accusing the LDF government in Kerala led by Pinarayi Vijayan of committing a fraud in connivance with the officials of the state election machinery by inducting dubious voters, double voters and voters with fraudulent identities.

“We pointed out three specific instances of the fraud being committed on the electoral system as the same voter is registered in different booths. The name, father’s name, address — everything is the same, yet the voter is registered in different booths in the same constituency. So ‘X’ is registered in ‘A’ constituency, then in ‘B’, and then in ‘C’, so that the same person can vote in three different constituencies,” said Randeep Singh Surjewala, chief spokesman of the Congress.

“The most dubious thing that is being done is that the photograph remains the same, but the name changes, so that a person with the same identity with different names can vote in multiple fashions. This is a clear instance of fraud,” he alleged.

Surjewala said everybody knows that in a politically aware state like Kerala, the victory or loss margins are very small. “What is being done in a concerted, dubious fraudulent fashion by the LDF government, in cahoots with the state election machinery, is to enrol such voters. We have given evidence of eight such assembly constituencies,” he said.

The Congress demanded that the ECI should clean the voters’ list within one week so that a free and fair election can be held, besides taking action against the officials found guilty of this fraud.

The delegation also demanded to register criminal cases against the voters who have got themselves registered multiple times under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code.

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