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Kerala Congress leader moves high court against bogus voting
The alleged irregularities in postal ballot came to light following an audio clip of two police officials speaking on ballots surfaced in the media.
Kerala opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala on Monday moved the High Court seeking cancellation of postal votes by police officials and for speeding up other cases registered in connection with impersonation and bogus voting.
After preliminary investigation by senior officers serious irregularities were detected in postal votes as the CPI(M)-led police association members collected ballot papers of those who were on duty in bulk and cast their votes, he said in his petition. He sought the intervention of the court to cancel these votes and order fresh polling.
“Secrecy of voting is an indispensable part of free and fair elections. Secrecy in elections is a must and this should be insisted upon to ensure that a voter casts his vote without any fear or being victimised,” he pointed out in his petition. He also requested the court to take a speedy decision on this because many poll petitions usually take enough time and accused never get any punishment.
The alleged irregularities in postal ballot came to light following an audio clip of two police officials speaking on ballots surfaced in the media. Embarrassed police chief Loknath Behra had asked the intelligence ADGP to probe this. Later the intelligence chief submitted a report pointing out foul play and recommended a thorough probe to get into details.
Earlier Chief Electoral Officer of the state Tikaram Meena had confirmed that at least 20 cases were registered for bogus voting and impersonation in north Kerala. Poll malpractices were also reported from the assembly constituency of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Dharmadom. Among 20 cases registered, majority of people involved were CPI(M) workers while Muslim League activists made up the rest. But the ruling CPI(M) rejected these charges saying the party workers were only doing “open voting” to assist voters who were unable to cast their votes due to ill-health.
In the past also there were allegations of bogus voting but this time hard evidence surfaced thanks to live web cameras installed in polling booths. Initially charges were raised against the CPI (M) workers but later questions were also raised against Muslim League workers. The state had gone to the poll on April 23 to elect 20 Lok Sabha members and 77.68% polling was recorded this time. Among those 20 booked, 11 are CPI(M) workers and nine Muslim League activists.
According to legal experts a person who is caught doing bogus voting can be arrested under non-bailable offence and can get a jail term of two years with fine under relevant sections of Indian Penal Code Sections 171 C and 171 D, if proved guilty. But most cases never get sentenced for want of evidence and legal delay.
