60 lakh ‘fake voters’ in Madhya Pradesh: Election Commission begins probe; to submit report by June 7

Madhya Pradesh will go to polls in November. The Congress has urged the Election Commission of India to remove all duplicate entries in the electoral rolls of Madhya Pradesh’s 230 Assembly constituencies and blamed the BJP for it.

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New Delhi: The teams, constituted by the Election Commission on Sunday, began their investigation on Monday into an allegation made by Congress that 60 lakh “fake voters” were registered in Madhya Pradesh. As per news agency IANS, the EC has formed four teams to validate electoral rolls in Assembly constituencies such as Hoshangabad, Narela, Seoni-Malwa, and Bhojpur.

The EC teams, with two members each, have to submit their report by Thursday (June 7). The teams will ascertain the "alleged fake voters' name if any", "how did it happen" and find out who is responsible for it so that an appropriate action can be taken. Earlier on Sunday, the Congress had claimed that there were around 60 lakh bogus voters in Madhya Pradesh and further blamed the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) for it.

 

The party also submitted a memorandum to the EC attaching evidence of multiple entries of a single voter with different names in an Assembly constituency. They also cited instances where one voter’s name was mentioned in many Assembly constituencies.

Madhya Pradesh Congress president Kamal Nath said: “We have provided evidence to the Election Commission. There are approximately 60 lakh fake voters registered in the state. These are not merely mistakes. The lists have been deliberately altered at the behest of BJP government in the state.”

He further questioned: "How is it possible that population has increased by 24 per cent but the number of voters has increased by 40 per cent?"

Underlining that in order to conduct free and fair polls, the Congress urged the poll panel to remove all duplicate entries in the electoral rolls of Madhya Pradesh’s 230 Assembly constituencies.

Madhya Pradesh will go to polls in November.