Bogus forms flood poll office

With elections in Delhi scheduled for December, the office of the chief electoral officer has reported an abnormally high number of forms for inclusion in the electoral rolls

With elections in Delhi scheduled for December, the office of the chief electoral officer has reported an abnormally high number of forms for inclusion in the electoral rolls, and most of them have been found to be bogus. It was found during special verification drives that the voters did not exist at all.

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Top electoral officers said they have received 10 lakh new forms, mostly in the past three weeks, although the electoral list had long been finalised. “It is a matter of concern and the police have already registered 100 FIRs in this matter. If someone is knowingly filling up fake forms they would have to face action,” said Satbir Silas Bedi, chief electoral officer, Delhi.

Bedi said the electoral list of 1.12 crore voters had been finalised by March 14 and the sudden increase in the number of forms within three weeks was unexpected. “We had already added 40 lakh new names to the list by March 14 and were expecting maximum 3 lakh more forms. But the figure of 10 lakh is not statistically possible,” Bedi said.

The election office has informed the Election Commission and will be meeting all the political parties soon. “We have asked the area deputy commissioners to initiate police action in these cases,” Bedi said.