Months Before Assembly Elections in MP, 60 Lakh Fake Voters Found, Congress Alleges Foul Play

Months before the scheduled assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, a controversy of 60 lakh fake voters has  surfaced, which is likely to keep the Election Commission on its toes.

Three months after scrutinising the voter list released by the Madhya Pradesh Election Commission in January 2018, the Congress exposed the Commission’s negligence and put the onus of the glitch on the ruling BJP government.

The fake voter ID card issue has given ammunition to the opposition; the party has been using this issue to corner the government. Mounting attack on the government, Congress alleged that more than 60 lakh names in the latest voter list are fake, which has been prepared by the government with the help of administration to retain power.

To make its voice heard, a delegation of Congress leaders comprising Madhya Pradesh Congress President Kamal Nath, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Vivek Tankha and Digvijay Singh met with the election commission officials on Sunday in Delhi and demanded correction the voter list and punishment for the wrongdoers.

Instead of targeting Madhya Pradesh Election Commission, the Congress is accusing the ruling party BJP for the malfunction in the voter list, while BJP is also singing the Congress’ song, as the cloud of controversy hovers over the party. The party has also demanded a probe in the matter.

Finding itself in the hot water, Madhya Pradesh Election Commission has assured to rectify the issue before the election.

After meeting with the Election Commission official in Delhi, Congress held a press conference, and came down heavily on the BJP.

Showing proof of their claims to the media at the party office, Kamal Nath said, “After scrutinising 192 constituencies and adding all the discrepancies, we found out that around 60 lakh voters or 12 percent of the voter's list in Madhya Pradesh are fake. You can understand the magnitude of this fraud.”

He further said, “The population of the state has risen by 24 per cent in the last 10 years, while the new list of voters shows an increase of 40 per cent. This is surprising.”

Congress MP Jyotiraditya Scindia accused ruling BJP for this and demanded a probe. “We met with Election Commission officials and showcased the presentation of the sheer glitches. Commission has assured us that they will rectify the issues before July 31, 2018.”

He added, “Around 60 lakh names in the voter ID cards are fake. The BJP government has done that with the help of district collectors to retain its power.”

Cases of irregularities

On a single polling booth, total 23 voters, photos of all the voters are similar, but the names are different. Interestingly, the same photo has been found in another polling booth with 13 different names.

In Bhojpur constituency’s polling booth number 245, a voter with the name of Dev Chand (card number IJP 3297140) has become Mukesh Kumar in the same booth with different card number 3297249. Moreover, at booth number 270, the same photo is pasted with three different names.

In addition to that, in polling booth number 199 of the Bhojpur constituency, a voter ID card (3488426) has been issued with the name and photo of Fauziya Khan, while the same photo has also been found in voter ID card 3489499 with the name of Pramila. Even, the voter cards having men’s photos are carrying women’s names, and vice versa. These are just a few examples from the Bhojpur constituency; similar cases have been spotted in other districts too. And as per the Congress’s claim, there are 60 lakh fake voters – on average 20 thousand in each constituency.

What BJP said

The issue has put the ruling BJP on the back foot.  The party is currently in damage control mode. Commenting over the issue, Madhya Pradesh cabinet minister Vishwas Sarang said that the election commission should probe the issue and rectify the glitches immediately. 

Sarang refuted Congress’ allegation that the state government is involved in this matter. “Government has nothing to do with this; election commission should probe this matter,” he added.

Election commission's stand

Clarifying Commission's stand over the issue, state’s Chief Electoral Officer Salina Singh said, “It may happen by mistake during the preparation of the voter list. The officials may fill the blank photo spaces with different photos.”

She further said, “We are gearing up to rectify the issue. The point has been taken up and commission has given responsibility to the Booth Level Officers (BLOs) to correct the voter list and district magistrate of the each districts will supervise it."