EC looks at allegations of 59L bogus voters in AP

Much ahead of the ongoing data theft war, the Election commission began looking into allegations of over 59 lakh bogus voters in Andhra Pradesh following complaints from Assembly Opposition leader YS Jaganmohan Reddy.

A 10-member team led by former Deputy Election Commissioner Vinod Zutshi, started auditing the voter list after the YSR Congress Party said they suspected that 16% of the 3.67 crore bonafide voters in the state are fake.

Jaganmohan Reddy alleged that the "unfair and unethical means" used by the TDP government included the manipulation of electoral rolls, the misuse of government machinery and the partisan use of police officers to intimidate the Opposition and keep tabs on them.

Ponnavolu Sudhakar Reddy, president of the YSR Congress Party’s legal cell, said that scrutinising the voter list in Chittoor showed several cases of a single person who had two votes with a slight variation in the name. In other cases, a nickname was used to create a separate ID.

Adding weight to the argument is the fact that the ECI recently removed about 27 lakh bogus voters in Telangana. That list included a number of deceased people. However, some people claimed that even genuine voters are being denied. “The apology offered by the Chief Electoral Officer of Telangana is an indication that such discrepancies are possible,” said Congress leader Mohammad Ali Shabbir.

Last November, the YSRCP filed a High Court Public Interest Litigation urging the ECI to verify and rectify the list. The ECI then reported back that the list had been verified and a fresh voter list was published. As per this list, there are 369 lakh voters in Andhra Pradesh.

The YSRCP said they suspect that election officers at the grassroots level and electoral registration officers have colluded with the ruling TDP to add fake names to the list. The TDP has strongly denied this. “The YSRCP is going to be defeated in the 2019 elections. That is why it's doing a new drama every day. We are a strong cadre-based party and do not need bogus votes. Our welfare programmes will fetch a landslide victory,” said AP Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu.

AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu tweeted that the majority of the voters this time belong to the new generation. He called upon the new generation voters to become agents for change.