Bogus voters in Delhi: HC posts hearing of plea to March 3

New Delhi, Jan 19: Delhi High Court on Monday posted to March three, the hearing of a plea alleging the presence of bogus voters in various assembly constituencies of the national capital. Justice Vibhu Bakhru said the court would hear the petition after the election process was over as there was no urgency and the Election Commission of India (ECI) was already working on it.

"It does not matter. The matter is already part heard by this bench. So let it be notified after the election (polls in Delhi is scheduled for February 7)," the court said, adding that "renotify again on March 3".

The court was hearing a plea filed by ex-Congress leader Naresh Kumar, who has in the latest electoral roll has shown pictures of same person against different names.

Kumar, who had unsuccessfully contested on a Congress ticket from Mundka in the 2014 Delhi Assembly polls, has alleged the presence of large number of bogus voters in the national capital.

On Kumar's plea, the court on January 13 had directed the New Delhi Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) to file an affidavit stating whether the ID card issued to the voters in question also bear wrong photographs, after examining the documents submitted by the petitioner in the court.

To this, the CEO in its response today said that "duplicate images have already been deleted and the roll purified, there is no possibility of the misuse of Electors' Photo Identity Card (EPIC) issued earlier, for casting vote in the forthcoming elections to the Delhi Legislative Assembly".

PTI