BJP smells a rat in revision of electoral rolls
The BJP sees, in the current revision of electoral rolls, a high incidence of registration of bogus voters across all Assembly constituencies in Mumbai.
By TNN |
MUMBAI: The BJP sees, in the current revision of electoral rolls, a high incidence of registration of bogus voters across all Assembly constituencies in Mumbai. BJP spokesperson Madhav Bhandari said on Friday that more than four lakh new voters have been added to the electoral rolls between August 21 and October 25 and the number smacks of serious irregularities.
The party has moved the State Election Commission with a plea to stay the revision in Mumbai and conduct an investigation to “unravel the reality behind a suspicious rise in the number of voters”. Mr Bhandari told reporters that the Election Commission has agreed to look into the complaint, but no orders have been issued so far to stay the revision drive.
Registration of bogus voters could mean serious consequences for Mumbai and the genuine voters since name on the voters’ list was taken as a proof for several government schemes including slum-rehabilitation and housing, Mr Bhandari argued.
According to him, the rise in the number of voters defies logic. When the revision drive began on August 21 this year, the number of voters in Mumbai stood at more than 84 lakh. But the October 25 revision figures showed that this number had shot up to 88.31 lakh. “In 19 constituencies, there has been almost 10% rise in the number of voters, which is a record by all standards.
The registration of a record number of voters in select constituencies raises doubts,” said the BJP spokesperson. He said the country, on an average, recorded a rise of 0.3% in the number of voters per year on the basis of the natural population rise of 2% per annum. “But the number of voters in Mumbai constituencies has risen by 4.92% just in two months,” noted Mr Bhandari.
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He pointed out that even the natural rise in population per annum was 2% and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation recorded an average 85,000 to 90,000 deaths per year in Mumbai. “Besides, between 30,000-40,000 people migrate out of Mumbai for jobs, education or other reasons. The increase in number of voters by a massive 4.14 lakh defies all these established figures,” he maintained. The BJP has claimed that the electoral rolls should have shown a decline of more than one lakh voters, but only 14,000 names have been deleted.
According to the rules set by the Election Commission of India, proof of identity required to be furnished for registration and voter identity card must have been obtained before the year preceding the revision year, he said.
“But our claim is that most of the new voters on the rolls have submitted proof of identity which they obtained as recently as 2006 or even this year. On the basis of fake proof of identity, voter identity cards are being issued to bogus voters,” Mr Bhandari alleged.
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