DMK, AIADMK intensify poll roll checks
DMK
and
AIADMK
have intensified their scrutiny of electoral rolls against the backdrop of special intensive revision (SIR) in poll-bound Bihar and allegations of 'vote theft' by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
Voter list verification is listed as part of the agenda for a meeting DMK president M K Stalin is scheduled to have with district secretaries on Wednesday. AIADMK district secretaries have started the process following an instruction from general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami.
While the national opposition is accusing Election Commission of removing genuine electors from the rolls, AIADMK organising secretary Aadi Rajaram says there are "dubious inclusions" in Tamil Nadu.
"We went to court and got orders twice in four years to remove bogus voters in the Thousand Lights and Chepauk-Triplicane constituencies, but several more remain on the rolls. We are checking for names of deceased, duplicate entries and those who have moved out.
" Recognised political parties have nominated booth level agents as authorised functionaries for each of the 69,000 polling booths in the state.
One point that DMK and AIADMK agree on is that lower rank staff as booth level officers for electoral roll verification is ineffective.
AIADMK North Chennai North East district secretary R S Rajesh said his party has been successful in getting 27,779 'dubious voters' removed in the R K Nagar assembly constituency. "The officials could have easily found these out, but they did not," he said.
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DMK will start door-to-door verification once its 'Oraniyil Tamil Nadu' membership drive ends this week. "We will be vigilant after Rahul's 'vote theft' expose," said DMK spokesman R S Bharathi, who filed several cases ahead of previous elections against inclusion of bogus voters. Bharathi said the electoral rolls have up to 15% of deceased voters, and double entries add up to about 5%.
At a rally in Virudhunagar on Friday, EPS alleged DMK won Chennai seats last time because of bogus voters.
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