With a whopping 38,493 duplicate votes reportedly being registered in the Tirupati Assembly constituency (constituency no. 167), doubts began to arise over the fairness of the conduct of the upcoming elections.
It may be recalled that many Election Photo Identity Cards (EPIC) were downloaded unauthorisedly by using the Returning Officer’s login credentials ahead of the 2021 by-election for the Tirupati Parliamentary constituency.
Based on a complaint filed in April 2021 by the then BJP candidate and former bureaucrat K. Ratna Prabha, the Election Commission of India (ECI) initiated a probe and found irregularities prima facie.
A case was also registered in the Tirupati East police station after BJP State president D. Purandeswari filed a complaint, following which the ECI suspended the then Commissioner of Municipal Corporation of Tirupati (MCT) and Returning Officer P.S. Gireesha. MCT Additional Commissioner Chandramouliswara Reddy, who allegedly doubled as the Assistant Returning Officer by keeping the ECI in the dark, was also suspended along with five police personnel for their alleged inaction on the issue.
Recently, TDP–BJP–JSP alliance candidate for Tirupati Assembly constituency, Arani Srinivasulu, submitted yet another representation to the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Mukesh Kumar Meena at Amaravati, urging him to remove the double entry votes.
“Using those duplicate votes, several fake voters have cast their votes in the by-election. Though the ECI acknowledged the registration of such duplicate votes, they remain on the list, which will surely cast a shadow on the conduct of free and fair elections.”Arani SrinivasuluTDP-BJP-JSP candidate for Tirupati Assembly constituency
“Using those duplicate votes, several fake voters have cast their votes in the by-election. Though the ECI acknowledged the registration of such duplicate votes, they remain on the list, which will surely cast a shadow on the conduct of free and fair elections,” Mr. Srinivasulu told The Hindu.
Meanwhile, a study undertaken by the opposition parties revealed that the list contains 23,540 duplicate entries and 16,389 fake votes, apart from 2,49,587 genuine voters.
Some voters were found to have two EPIC cards bearing two numbers with votes registered at two polling booths. The data entered on the cards, including the photo, name, father’s name and address, is tweaked to project one voter as two. While some entries were made in upper case, and others were found to be in lower case letters.
For example, one Dileep Puligundla bears two EPIC numbers—AYM4499612 and AYM1779422. His age, door number and picture slightly changed on the two cards. Similarly, one Guru Natha Reddy Thunga, a voter at Gollavanigunta polling booth (234), has two EPIC numbers—AYM4444220 and ZUP3652781, where all the details match.
“Our demand is for a level playing field. Officials must ensure it by deleting these double entries. Otherwise the very purpose of the democratic process stands defeated,” Mr. Srinivasulu said.
Meanwhile, a district official in the know said double entry is not done for all the downloaded EPICs. “The data in the list submitted by the opposition pertains to mid-January and final refinement of the list is due, which will be made available by April 25,” he said.
