JOIN USTight vigil against duplicate voters in Kerala polling
The Assembly elections in Kerala this time will be under tight vigil against duplicate voters as thousands of multiple entries of same persons were found in the electoral roll.
While the Election Commission maintained that around 38,000 multiple entries were noticed, the Opposition Congress alleged that there were around 4.3 lakh multiple voters. Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala even published the list of multiple voters on a website. The opposition alleged that it was an attempt of the ruling party to carry out massive bogus voting.
A total of 957 candidates are in the fray across the 140 constituencies. The polling will be held from 7 am to 7 pm at 40,771 polling booths. There are 2.74 crore voters in Kerala.
An instructed by the Kerala High Court on the duplicate entry row, the Election Commission has prescribed a slew of measures to the election officials to plug multiple votes by same person. The commission also warned that voters getting involved in multiple or impersonated voting would attract case warranting up to one year imprisonment and fine.
Voters in absentee, shifted and duplicate or deceased voters' list should have to submit a declaration and the presiding officer should take their photograph using mobile phone apart from taking their thumb impression and ensuring that the indelible ink is dried before allowing all voters to vote.
The ECI also direct the police to provide adequate security to polling booths. Vigil along the state borders were also enhanced to curb the chances of inter-state bogus voting. Over 4,000 booths were identified as sensitive, including around 250 in left-wing extremist affected areas.