3,175 duplicates found in Bahadurpura Assembly constituency voters list; Congress demands revision

Hyderabad: As many as 3,175 multiple voter entries or duplicate entries have been found in a draft containing a list of voter names from the Bahadurpura Assembly constituency by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC).

In a letter addressed to the addl. commissioner, dated September 25, the electoral registration officer (ERO) raised the issues claiming that multiple voter entries have been found in 127 designated locations. The letter was an answer to a query raised in Bahadurpura by the Congress regarding additional entries being made to the electoral roll.

This has raised concerns among the political parties that bogus voters are being enrolled in the name of voter enrolment. The issue came to light after the Congress Party submitted a detailed voters' list consisting of 3,152 multiple entries in the Bahadurpura Assembly Constituency (63).

G Niranjan, vice-president and chairman of the Election Coordination Committee of the Congress party said “We submitted the list during a political parties’ meeting on September 19, convened by Hyderabad DEO Ronald Rose and other members of the electoral office.”

“In response to our complaint, the ERO of Bahadurpura, in his letter to addl commissioner (Elecs), confirmed that they found 3,175 multiple entries in the list. A copy of which was sent to us,” he added.

“The draft rolls have already been prepared but the objections to the voters list are yet to be completed. How can the final voter list be announced on October 4 with these multiple names?” Niranjan said.

Duplicate entries slowing the enrolment process

Those who are working to enrol voters said that they are unable to find authentic voter names in the draft rolls. The civil society members and volunteers also claimed that people are also having difficulty enrolling.

They said that many people have suddenly come up every nook and corner claiming to get enrolment done in the electoral list for Rs 500 per name. These can lead to the registration of dummy voters.

Voter names missing from digital rolls

A social worker, managing enrolment at the ground level, said, “The Election Commission had put up a notice for voters to check their names in the voters list. However, many discrepancies were found. Some can’t find their names online even though they are in the form papers. How can that happen? Why is it that even people who have voter ID cards can’t find their names? When the objections were raised, they were asked to enrol again. We suspect that the real voter names have been deleted and bogus voters are taking their place.”

However, joint chief election officer Sarfaraz Ahmad clarified there is no question of deletion of authentic voter names.

“There is a standard operating procedure which is duly followed before such steps are taken. The bogus voters shall be deleted from the electoral roll. The house-to-house survey in the state covered 1,08,72,705 households. In this, it was found that 3,93,991 persons had not enrolled. It was also found that 1,03,956 voters were dead and the due process was followed to delete their names. About 66,365 voters were found to have permanently shifted. As many as 21,436 duplicate voters were found for which necessary action was taken as per the procedure.”

Names being added without proper protocol

There are also multiple people who are running enrolment camps for voter cards. “This is a deliberate attempt to create confusion by vested interests,” stated an activist who has given multiple complaints to the state election commission on additional voters being enrolled.

Earlier, it was believed that the problem was with deletion of voter names but now the issue is about more names being added indiscriminately which is creating confusion. This is in turn leading to authentic voters being struck off from the rolls while duplicate and bogus voters are running scot-free. A member of the civil society explained, “These additional names are being added at the municipal level. Hence, it has to be controlled from the ground level itself.”

Bahadurpura is the tip of the bogus voters’ iceberg

The election commission has received multiple complaints from civil society members for its failure to enrol authentic voters. The EC stated that they have followed the standard operating procedure to delete bogus voters. Ahmed said, “Efforts are being made to ensure that there are no bogus voters added to the electoral roll. We are also asking the field officers to carry out house-to-house verification.”

G Niranjan said, “The letter of Bahadurpura is only the tip of the iceberg. Who is checking what is happening in the other constituencies? If this is not rectified, we are going to protest. The Election Commission cannot declare the final rolls on October 4 with these duplicate and bogus entries.”

The civil society is raising a hue and cry to get real voters enrolled properly. However, their names are yet to be reflected on online rolls.

The path to issuing voter identity cards seems very far away. For this reason, steps are being taken to make the Election Commission look into the workings of different municipal offices to ensure transparency and proper enrolment.