The problem of fake voters

N D Sharma

During the campaign of by-elections for Mungaoli and Kolaras Assembly constituencies in Madhya Pradesh, Congress activists detected discrepancies in voters' lists last month. Photocopies showing the same voter registered in more than one locality started appearing in social media. As the complaints at the local level did not have the desired effect, the party led by Lok Sabha member from Shivpuri Jyotiraditya Scindia approached the Election Commission. A summary re-check of voters' lists was ordered.

'Fake voter' is not a new phenomenon in India's electoral process. But the registration of fake voters in large numbers by a political party or a leader with resources and manpower at their disposal has become much too common in recent decades.

Jyotiraditya Scindia A week before the day of polling, the Ashoknagar district Collector's office sent its report to the Chief Electoral Officer in Bhopal saying that 1800 fake voters had been detected in the Mungaoli Assembly constituency. Of these 1800, as many as 834 were dead, 312 were listed at more than one place, 245 voters were not traceable and 435 had been transferred to different places but had not got their names in the Mungaoli constituency deleted.

Sriniwas Tiwari Two days later, Ashoknagar Collector Babusingh Jamod was transferred on a direction of the Election Commission. Besides, a few junior level functionaries were placed under suspension. The Mungaoli constituency is part of Ashoknagar district.
'Fake voter' is not a new phenomenon in India's electoral process. But the registration of fake voters in large numbers by a political party or a leader with resources and manpower at their disposal has become much too common in recent decades. It is not always that these are detected on time.

Digvijaya Singh Madhya Pradesh Congress leader Sriniwas Tiwari, who was Speaker of Madhya Pradesh Assembly for ten years when Digvijaya Singh was the Chief Minister, had been winning continuously from the Mangawan constituency of Rewa district. It was during the 2003 election campaign that the BJP spotted discrepancies in the voters' lists in the constituency. Following the complaint by the BJP, the Election Commission got the voters' lists checked and came out with 21,815 fake voters. Some 1400 adults were listed as living in just one four-room house. Tiwari lost to the BJP's Girish Gautam by a sizeable margin. (Sriniwas Tiwari, in his 90s, died in January this year).

Vibhu Bakhru Quite often, the fake voters are detected (and deleted) during the annual revision of voters' lists which takes place much after the polling. Narendra Modi won from the Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency with a margin of over 3.7 lakh votes in 2014. During the revision of electoral rolls towards the end of the year, over six lakh fake voters were discovered in the Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency. It did not help Aam Aadmi Party's Arvind Kejriwal, who was a runner-up in the Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency. But it made him wiser for the forthcoming Delhi Assembly elections.

Shivraj Singh Chouhan Both AAP and Congress had detected bogus entries in voters' lists for the Delhi Assembly elections. Leaders of the two parties approached the Election Commission but the Election Commission behaved shabbily and refused to take notice of their complaints. The matter was then taken to Delhi High Court which pulled up the Election Commission and asked it what action it had taken on the allegation about the presence of a large number of bogus voters in various Assembly constituencies of the national capital. 'What is the cause of it? Obviously someone is not doing their job properly. Last year, my photograph was also wrong', Justice Vibhu Bakhru said, while directing the Chief Election Commissioner and the Chief Electoral Officer of Delhi to file an affidavit 'indicating the cause of error.'
The, court said that there were 'discrepancies' in the electoral rolls as shown by the petitioner, Naresh Kumar. The court also said that the allegation that there were many persons in the city who had numerous voter cards in their names but with different addresses needed to be rectified if they were still existing.
In response to the complaints of the Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress that Delhi's electoral rolls carried names of a large number of bogus voters, Election Commission wrote to the two parties on January 11, 2015 that 1,20,605 'duplications' had been noticed in the electoral rolls (which have been deleted).

S K Mishra Election Commission's response came two days before it was scheduled to file an affidavit in the High Court. get its work done by the State government employees and its major handicap is that it has no control over these employees outside of the period when Code of Conduct is in force. Once the Code of Conduct period is over, these employees are at the mercy of the State government.
An unscrupulous Chief Minister like Shivraj Singh Chouhan of Madhya Pradesh has been acting almost with a vengeance: rewarding those who had defied the Election Commission in the interest of the party and punishing those who have honestly discharged their electoral responsibilities and the BJP has suffered from their honesty.

Tukojirao Puar At the scrutiny of nomination papers during the 2008 Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections, then Minister of State Tukojirao Puar created ruckus in the office of Dewas Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Sanjana Jain who was Returning Officer for Sonkutch (SC) constituency. Phoolchand Verma was the BJP candidate from Sonkutch. Puar had accompanied Verma at the time of the scrutiny. On a direction of the Election Commission, a criminal case was registered against Puar under Sections 186,353 and 506 of IPC.
As the Sections make it a cognizable offence, Puar was arrested by the police and lodged in police lock-up till he got bail a few days later. Chief Minister Chouhan later told an election meeting at Dewas (Puar's constituency) that he was proud of Tukojirao Puar. Not only that, Chouhan elevated Puar to the cabinet rank after the elections. Sub-Divisional Magistrate Sanjana Jain was later withdrawn from field work and given a semiclerical job in Bhopal.

The Election Commission took a serious note of Mishra's kow-towing to Chouhan during the campaign and ordered his removal from Sehore a few days before polling. Once the Code of Conduct period was over, Chouhan made S K Mishra Collector of much more important Bhopal district and then Secretary to the Chief Minister, sending an unmistakable message to the bureaucracy that he would take care of the officers defying the Election Commission to protect his interests.

On the other side is the case of S K Mishra. Chouhan was a member of the Lok Sabha when he became Chief Minister in November 2005. S K Mishra was the Collector of Sehore and Returning Officer for the Budhni constituency, from where Chouhan contested and was elected to the Assembly.
The Election Commission took a serious note of Mishra's kowtowing to Chouhan during the campaign and ordered his removal from Sehore a few days before polling. Once the Code of Conduct period was over, Chouhan made S K Mishra Collector of much more important Bhopal district and then Secretary to the Chief Minister, sending an unmistakable message to the bureaucracy that he would take care of the officers defying the Election Commission to protect his interests.
Ashoknagar Collector Babusingh Jamod, who has been transferred on the Election Commission's orders following detection of 1800 fake voters in Mungaoli constituency, is sure to be taken care of by Chouhan once the Code of Conduct period is over. Last year he was rewarded by the Chouhan government for his excellent work related to preparation of electoral rolls (read enlisting a large number of fake voters).



		EDITOR'S MAIL FROM THE EDITOR PARLIAMENT LOGJAM CHANGING EQUATIONS CHANGING EQUATIONS FRANKLY SPEAKING DATELINE KARNATAKA EMPOWERING STUDENTS EMPOWERING STUDENTS FARMERS' PLIGHT INTERVIEW SIGNS OF THE TIMES KASHMIR WATCH REALPOLITIK ELECTORAL FAULTLINES SIGNALS FROM WEST BENGAL CHANDIGARH DIARY STRONGMAN POLITICS INDO-CANADIAN TIES HITS & MISSES BOOK BAZAAR BOOK BAZAAR MAKING OF A NOVELIST YOGA IN DAILY LIFE THE ROAD AHEAD Issue:Apr' 2018 Subscribe Now	ELECTORAL FAULTLINES The problem of fake voters N D Sharma During the campaign of by-elections for Mungaoli and Kolaras Assembly constituencies in Madhya Pradesh, Congress activists detected discrepancies in voters' lists last month. Photocopies showing the same voter registered in more than one locality started appearing in social media. As the complaints at the local level did not have the desired effect, the party led by Lok Sabha member from Shivpuri Jyotiraditya Scindia approached the Election Commission. A summary re-check of voters' lists was ordered. 'Fake voter' is not a new phenomenon in India's electoral process. But the registration of fake voters in large numbers by a political party or a leader with resources and manpower at their disposal has become much too common in recent decades. Jyotiraditya Scindia A week before the day of polling, the Ashoknagar district Collector's office sent its report to the Chief Electoral Officer in Bhopal saying that 1800 fake voters had been detected in the Mungaoli Assembly constituency. Of these 1800, as many as 834 were dead, 312 were listed at more than one place, 245 voters were not traceable and 435 had been transferred to different places but had not got their names in the Mungaoli constituency deleted. Sriniwas Tiwari Two days later, Ashoknagar Collector Babusingh Jamod was transferred on a direction of the Election Commission. Besides, a few junior level functionaries were placed under suspension. The Mungaoli constituency is part of Ashoknagar district. 'Fake voter' is not a new phenomenon in India's electoral process. But the registration of fake voters in large numbers by a political party or a leader with resources and manpower at their disposal has become much too common in recent decades. It is not always that these are detected on time. Digvijaya Singh Madhya Pradesh Congress leader Sriniwas Tiwari, who was Speaker of Madhya Pradesh Assembly for ten years when Digvijaya Singh was the Chief Minister, had been winning continuously from the Mangawan constituency of Rewa district. It was during the 2003 election campaign that the BJP spotted discrepancies in the voters' lists in the constituency. Following the complaint by the BJP, the Election Commission got the voters' lists checked and came out with 21,815 fake voters. Some 1400 adults were listed as living in just one four-room house. Tiwari lost to the BJP's Girish Gautam by a sizeable margin. (Sriniwas Tiwari, in his 90s, died in January this year). Vibhu Bakhru Quite often, the fake voters are detected (and deleted) during the annual revision of voters' lists which takes place much after the polling. Narendra Modi won from the Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency with a margin of over 3.7 lakh votes in 2014. During the revision of electoral rolls towards the end of the year, over six lakh fake voters were discovered in the Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency. It did not help Aam Aadmi Party's Arvind Kejriwal, who was a runner-up in the Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency. But it made him wiser for the forthcoming Delhi Assembly elections. Shivraj Singh Chouhan Both AAP and Congress had detected bogus entries in voters' lists for the Delhi Assembly elections. Leaders of the two parties approached the Election Commission but the Election Commission behaved shabbily and refused to take notice of their complaints. The matter was then taken to Delhi High Court which pulled up the Election Commission and asked it what action it had taken on the allegation about the presence of a large number of bogus voters in various Assembly constituencies of the national capital. 'What is the cause of it? Obviously someone is not doing their job properly. Last year, my photograph was also wrong', Justice Vibhu Bakhru said, while directing the Chief Election Commissioner and the Chief Electoral Officer of Delhi to file an affidavit 'indicating the cause of error.' The, court said that there were 'discrepancies' in the electoral rolls as shown by the petitioner, Naresh Kumar. The court also said that the allegation that there were many persons in the city who had numerous voter cards in their names but with different addresses needed to be rectified if they were still existing. In response to the complaints of the Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress that Delhi's electoral rolls carried names of a large number of bogus voters, Election Commission wrote to the two parties on January 11, 2015 that 1,20,605 'duplications' had been noticed in the electoral rolls (which have been deleted). S K Mishra Election Commission's response came two days before it was scheduled to file an affidavit in the High Court. get its work done by the State government employees and its major handicap is that it has no control over these employees outside of the period when Code of Conduct is in force. Once the Code of Conduct period is over, these employees are at the mercy of the State government. An unscrupulous Chief Minister like Shivraj Singh Chouhan of Madhya Pradesh has been acting almost with a vengeance: rewarding those who had defied the Election Commission in the interest of the party and punishing those who have honestly discharged their electoral responsibilities and the BJP has suffered from their honesty. Tukojirao Puar At the scrutiny of nomination papers during the 2008 Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections, then Minister of State Tukojirao Puar created ruckus in the office of Dewas Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Sanjana Jain who was Returning Officer for Sonkutch (SC) constituency. Phoolchand Verma was the BJP candidate from Sonkutch. Puar had accompanied Verma at the time of the scrutiny. On a direction of the Election Commission, a criminal case was registered against Puar under Sections 186,353 and 506 of IPC. As the Sections make it a cognizable offence, Puar was arrested by the police and lodged in police lock-up till he got bail a few days later. Chief Minister Chouhan later told an election meeting at Dewas (Puar's constituency) that he was proud of Tukojirao Puar. Not only that, Chouhan elevated Puar to the cabinet rank after the elections. Sub-Divisional Magistrate Sanjana Jain was later withdrawn from field work and given a semiclerical job in Bhopal. The Election Commission took a serious note of Mishra's kow-towing to Chouhan during the campaign and ordered his removal from Sehore a few days before polling. Once the Code of Conduct period was over, Chouhan made S K Mishra Collector of much more important Bhopal district and then Secretary to the Chief Minister, sending an unmistakable message to the bureaucracy that he would take care of the officers defying the Election Commission to protect his interests. On the other side is the case of S K Mishra. Chouhan was a member of the Lok Sabha when he became Chief Minister in November 2005. S K Mishra was the Collector of Sehore and Returning Officer for the Budhni constituency, from where Chouhan contested and was elected to the Assembly. The Election Commission took a serious note of Mishra's kowtowing to Chouhan during the campaign and ordered his removal from Sehore a few days before polling. Once the Code of Conduct period was over, Chouhan made S K Mishra Collector of much more important Bhopal district and then Secretary to the Chief Minister, sending an unmistakable message to the bureaucracy that he would take care of the officers defying the Election Commission to protect his interests. Ashoknagar Collector Babusingh Jamod, who has been transferred on the Election Commission's orders following detection of 1800 fake voters in Mungaoli constituency, is sure to be taken care of by Chouhan once the Code of Conduct period is over. Last year he was rewarded by the Chouhan government for his excellent work related to preparation of electoral rolls (read enlisting a large number of fake voters).