One person, five votes: Kerala Oppn Leader Ramesh Chennithala reveals voter fraud in state

Ramesh Chennithala said that such a fraudulent practise is being carried out with the blessing of the officers, and the same name, address, and photo have been used on different occasions
Ramesh Chennithala
Ramesh Chennithala

Addressing a press conference, Kerala Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala alleged that there is a widespread irregularity in the voter list for the upcoming Assembly elections. “In the Uduma constituency, especially in booth number 164, one person has five votes,” he said, adding that there was an attempt to sabotage the elections using thousands of such fake votes and voters. He told the media persons that it was not limited to Uduma but other constituencies as well.

According to him, the instances were revealed while examining the voters’ list published on January 20, 2021. In one example, a 61-year-old female named Kumari and her husband named Raveendran has been repeated five times in booth number 164 in Uduma constituency in Kasargod. The person’s address is the same on three occasions, with slight changes in the other two. However, all five “voters” have different voter ID card numbers.

He said that such a fraudulent practise is being carried out with the blessing of the officers, and the same name, address, and photo have been used on different occasions. “Officers, who are loyal to the LDF government, have been deployed to carry out this fraud. Adding more votes in the name of one person is a serious offence, and I would ask the election commissioner to remove these fraudulent votes,” Ramesh said while revealing figures related to the fraud.

According to him, 4,506 fraudulent voters found in Kazhakoottam constituency, 2,534 in Kollam, 1,436 in Thrikaripur, 4,611 in Koyilandi, 6,771 in Nadapuram, and 3,525 in Koothuparambu. “Fraudulent ballots should be detected and removed, and do not involve them in the election. It is the only way to establish transparent elections, and the fraudulent activities can be detected very quickly in a digital system,” Ramesh said. He added that it is imperative since the fraud is widespread and in all constituencies.

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