Over 1.2 lakh duplications have been detected in the electoral rolls of Delhi, the Election Commission said on Sunday while asserting that a variety of steps have been taken to prevent bogus voting in the upcoming Assembly polls.
The contentious issue of duplication of electoral rolls has come ahead of the commission’s plan to announce the Assembly elections in the city in the coming days. The commission is expected to hold the polls in Delhi, under the President’s Rule now, in the middle of February.
The commission’s response came on complaints by the Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress that the city’s electoral rolls carried names of a large number of bogus voters. In its written communication to the two parties, the commission said that 1,20,605 duplications have been noticed in the electoral rolls.
Alleging that more than 3 lakh voters in the city had more than one voter ID card, the AAP had last week approached the commission and urged it to rectify discrepancies. The Congress too had raised the issue of “bogus votes” before the commission.
Quoting a letter written to it by Delhi joint chief electoral officer Rajesh Goyal, the commission told both the parties that while 89,017 entries have been rectified and published in the final publication of electoral rolls, the rest would be published in the supplementary list to be available on the last date of nomination.
As per the final electoral roll published on January 5, the city has 1,30,85251 electors.
During the process of summary revision, which started on October 15 last, the Delhi poll body used “de-duplication software” following which it found “probable duplicity” in the electoral rolls.
The Delhi poll body has constituted ADM-level probe in each of the districts to identify the reasons behind duplicacy. It said prima facie multiple applications by an elector, error at the level of data entry and technical glitches in the IT based platform could be attributed as some of the reasons for the flaw in electoral rolls.
The EC said that strict instructions have been issued to apply a thick layer of indelible ink to those who cast their vote.
The bogus voting would attract a jail term of up to one year or fine or both under the IPC. The commission said it would also undertake focused publicity of legal provisions regarding bogus voting and step up vigilance during the last 48 hours before the polls.
