Complaints about Tamils registering as voters both in Theni and Idukki districts

Thiruvananthapuram: Large numbers of Tamils are allegedly registering as voters both in Theni district of Tamil Nadu and Idukki in Kerala. The authorities are yet to take action on complaints about it, activists say.

A political activist Babu George Vattoli brought this to the notice of district collectors of Theni and others before the Parliament election in 2014. Complaints were also filed with the Election Commission of India, Chief Electoral Officer, Kerala, and the Idukki Collector subsequently. However, hundreds of voters still remain in voters list of both Theni district and Idukki district, says Mr. George.

He had produced copies of voters ‘lists from both the districts and other details to support his claim. As action is still pending, he had brought the matter again to the notice of authorities this year.

He also alleges that a gang is also operating in Idukki district who ensure that the bogus voters vote for a particular candidate en block. Money is offered to Tamils for registering as voters in Idukki district and casting votes to particular candidates.

Meanwhile, the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer here has published revised votes list for the State with January 1 as the qualifying date.  According to the revised list, the State has 25627620 voters (males: 12326185; females: 25627620).

The draft voters list published in November 2, 2015 had 25238952 voters. This had gone up by 3.89 lakhs.

The Electorate in the 2014 Parliament elections was 242.52 lakhs. This was higher by about 13.73 lakhs compared to the voters list used in 2011 which was a steep increase compared to previous elections when a thorough pruning of the list was undertaken removing names of dead voters and those who had moved their residences. Now, a sudden increase of 3.89 lakhs has raised eyebrows.