Delhi HC pulls up poll panel; asks what action taken on bogus voters

New Delhi, Jan 5: The Delhi High Court on Monday pulled up the Election Commission here asking what action it has taken on the allegation about the presence of a large number of bogus voters in various assembly constituencies of the national capital.

"What is the cause of it? Obviously someone is not doing their job properly. Last year, my photograph was also wrong," Justice Vibhu Bakhru said while directing the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Delhi to file an affidavit "indicating the cause of error".

"We all are interested in knowing it (about duplication of voter ID card), nothing more than this and nothing less. That's all we want," the court said, adding if it is happening, then it is a "matter of great concern".

It has listed the matter for further hearing on January 13. The court made the observation while hearing a plea alleging the presence of a large number of bogus voters in various assembly constituencies of the national capital.

The court said there are "discrepancies" in the electoral rolls as shown by the petitioner Naresh Kumar who had unsuccessfully contested on a Congress ticket from Mundka in the 2014 Delhi Assembly polls.

The court also said the allegation that there are many persons in the city who have numerous voter cards in their name but with different addresses needs to be rectified if they are still existing. Kumar, represented by senior advocate Rakesh Tiku, has sought a direction to delete the name of the bogus voters in different constituencies, including Mundka here which itself has over 41,000 such forged card-holders.

Meanwhile, the counsel for CEC, who appeared after the court issued notice on December 31 last year, informed that the final electoral roll list has come and all the correction in regard to the present issue has been done. CEC also said that if they (petitioner or any other) has any objection, they can give their representation.

PTI