MP Cong, EC dispute reaches top court

Dispute between the Congress and the Election Commission of India over allegations of 60 lakh bogus voters in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh has reached the Supreme Court.

MPCC president Kamal Nath filed a petition in the court on Friday, alleging that lakhs of voters have been found to be bogus. The commission had in June dismissed the allegation as incorrect after its four teams conducted preliminary inquiries. The BJP supported the poll panel’s claim and sought an apology from the Congress for levelling wild allegations against a constitutional body.

Not satisfied with the commission’s probe, the Congress said in the petition that “Election Commission is the watchdog of free and fair elections and is duty-bound to circumvent the pressure and ascertain that the ensuing elections are free from any impediments, in order to uphold the democratic sanctity and fundamental rights of the voter.”

In an urgent mentioning, a three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra heard advocate Varun K Chopra representing Kamal Nath. The court decided to examine the petition, in which both the Election Commission of India and the Madhya Pradesh poll body are respondents.

Congress leaders from MP had submitted a detailed representation in June 2018 to the commission alleging inclusion of “60 lakh duplicate, repeat, multiple, illegal, invalid and false entries/voters in the electoral rolls of Madhya Pradesh for Assembly elections, 2018.”

Jyotiraditya Scindia accused the BJP behind this discrepancy. He alleged that even though the population increased by 24% in 10 years, the number of voters increased by 40%.

The commission set up four teams to visit the Assembly seats of Narela, Bhojpur, Hoshangabad and Seoni-Malwa to conduct preliminary inquiries into the allegation. The teams found no irregularities in the electoral rolls, said the panel in its press release.