Fake teachers’ list worries EC

MUMBAI: Teachers as voters are turning out to be major impostors. The June 24 election to send a teacher’s representative to the state legislature has become a head-ache for the Election Commission with the number of ‘fake’ voters swelling each passing day.

Around 20,000 teachers in Mumbai’s 2,500 schools are slated to cast ballot to elect their representative to the legislative council. But chances are that many of them may find their names chopped off the list on the day of polling as the EC has undertaken a drive to find out bogus ‘voters’.

“The detailed analysis raises serious doubts about the authenticity of the voters,” an officer from the Election Commission said. The EC so far has removed 103 names from the list and the process is still on.

The EC was compelled to act when large scale anomalies were found in the information submitted by the teachers. Many in the list are alleged to have provided false addresses in a voter registration drive.

“A teachers’ organisation had raised doubts about some of the names after which we conducted checks, only to find no trace of 103 teachers at the places mentioned as their residences,” a spokesperson for the commission said. The EC promptly deleted their names from the list and initiated a process to file criminal cases against the offenders, he said.

Now the BJP has submitted a list of nearly 300 voters who, it says, are fictitious. “The list is really amusing. A group of 25 teachers have one common residential address. In some cases, office and home addresses are one and the same. We have provided the details to the EC and expect speedy action from him,” Atul Bhatkhalkar, a senior BJP leader said.

Admitting that this was the first time the Commission was taking action against such a large number of people, the state election commissioner, UPS Madan, has admitted the need to be more careful. “This has never happened on such a large scale before. We will obviously have to be more careful while registering voters from now on and keep a more stringent check,” he said last week.

The BJP’s complaint indicates that large scale irregularities have taken place in Turbhe in Navi Mumbai and Bhandup and Andheri in Mumbai, Mr Bhatkhalkar said. Though there are four candidates in the fray, the tussle will be between the BJP backed Suresh Upadhye and Balasaheb Mhatre, a Congress-supported candidate.