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Monday, Feb 14, 2005

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Akalis write to Election Commission on bogus votes in Ajnala

By Our Staff Correspondent

CHANDIGARH, FEB. 13. The Shiromani Akali Dal has alleged that the ruling Congress in Punjab had misused the official machinery to register bogus votes in the Ajnala assembly constituency, where polling for the lone by-election in the State is scheduled for February 23. It has sought a proper scrutiny of the electoral rolls.

In a complaint sent to the Election Commission, copies of which were released to the media, the Akalis made sensational allegations regarding grave distortions and electoral malpractice being resorted to at the behest of the ruling party, especially the Chief Minister, Amarinder Singh, who was making desperate attempts to escape a crushing mandate.

According to details contained in the complaint, the total number of voters in Tera Khurd village of the constituency has risen from 909 to a staggering 1905, which the SAD alleges is a deep rooted "mischief'' and not a mere routine procedural lapse. The party charged that the list containing illegally inflated figures had been allowed to stay despite a number of inquiries by various lower rung officials, who clearly pointed out the anomaly and recommended corrective action.

The Akali Dal through its Secretary, Daljeet Singh Cheema, who claims to have provided documentary evidence for the charges, drew the attention of the Election Commission that not only did the total number of voters register an unbelievable increase but the total number of polling booths also went up from one to two. It charged that the second booth was allotted a fictitious number. "This village used to have 909 total votes as per the voter list of 1999 and there was only one polling station (No. 56 at that time). But suddenly it was found that in the voter list of 2003 the total number of votes published by the election department of Punjab government for the village (Tera Khurd) rose up to 1905. Out of these 1008 votes are in polling station No. 45 and 897 votes are in the polling station No. 46,'' the letter points out.

Charging that the high ups persistently refused to wake up to urgent pleas of officials at the lower levels to make the necessary corrections in the lists, the Akali Dal first got wind of the "murky goings on'' and had brought the matter to the notice of the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) of Ajnala as far back as August 2, 2004. The very next day, the SDM marked the complaint to the local tehsildar who further deputed the area Patwari, to look into the mater.

Subsequently, a house-to-house inquiry by the concerned Patwari in his report to the Tehsildar on September 29, 2004, confirmed the veracity of the SAD complaint. Agreeing with the findings, the tehsildar too sent the report, recommending necessary correction of the rolls to the SDM. To put the issue beyond any shade of doubt, the SDM also affixed his agreement with the findings and forwarded the same to the District Election Officer (DEO) of Amritsar, under whose jurisdiction the constituency falls, on October 1, 2004, with recommendation for further necessary action.

The Akali Dal has alleged that the matter hit a road block with the present dispensation in the State Government coming in with its alleged acts of political management of electoral rolls. Despite repeated requests, the DEO avoided any action on the report of his subordinates and allowed the fake voters to stay on the list, which the Akali Dal says is a clear violation of the People's Representation Act.

"This incident is merely a tip of the iceberg. The process of free and fair poll is seriously threatened by such a wanton acts amounting to large-scale rigging,'' said Dr. Cheema, requesting the Chief Election Commission (CEC) to intervene directly and immediately to rectify the grave distortions in the voters list.

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