Kerala polls: Ramesh Chennithala moves HC over bogus voters, double-entries in electoral rolls

Kochi (Kerala) [India], March 25 : Congress leader and the Leader of Opposition in the Kerala Assembly, Ramesh Chennithala on Thursday moved the Kerala High Court alleging the existence of bogus voters and double-entry of electors in the electoral rolls prepared for the upcoming State Assembly polls.
Chennithala seeks criminal action against, "those who are responsible for, including those who aided and abetted in breach of official duty in connection with the preparation of electoral roll which facilitated fake/multiple entries in the electoral roll published for the election to the Kerala Legislative Assembly".
In his petition, he has alleged that "after the final electoral rolls for the 2021 Assembly elections were published on January 20, 2021, thousands of complaints were poured into the office of the petitioner alleging double votes, fake entries in the electoral rolls, illegal enrolment of votes in many times by single voter, multiple id cards etc."
The petition further said that "Unless those fake/multiple entry voters are restrained from participating in the poll and criminal action is launched against those who are responsible for fake/multiple entries and punished in accordance with the law, far-reaching consequences will be caused to the electoral system. After a preliminary enquiry conducted at ward level, it was found that the complaints were very genuine, warranting urgent remedial measures."
Consequently, Ward Level Scrutiny Committees were constituted all over the state. The Committees assisted by an expert committee with specialized knowledge of software performed a comprehensive study, said the petition.
The petition further mentioned that on a cursory glance of the Compact Disc (CD), it could be seen that there are roughly 3,24,441 double votes and 1,09,601 bogus votes in the final electoral roll published on January 20, 2021, spreading over 131 Assembly constituencies and hence there are a total of 4,34,042 lakhs double/fake votes in the final electoral rolls.
Despite the petitioner's representations on March 17, 18, and 19, these assertions were not investigated and rectified, said Chennithala's petition.
It further stated that such large-scale electoral roll discrepancies could not have been affected without organised action and the involvement of government employees.
The manipulations were undertaken "with a calculated move to manipulate voters' list and thereby to make undue political advantage in the ensuing election to the Kerala Legislative Assembly", given that voters shares obtained by the two political fronts in the state differed by a narrow margin, the petition read.
Chennithala in his petition also stated that from the deceptive silence of the ruling party in the state even when the above said shocking disclosures regarding the electoral roll manipulations have been made public, it appears that the ruling coalition parties are not at all aggrieved by the above-proved manipulations in the electoral rolls.
He further in his plea requests that the court issues action to the Election Commission of India, and the Chief Electoral Officer to rectify the rolls, institute criminal action against persons discovered responsible for the alleged discrepancies, or any other relief.