Chennai: Alleging gross anomalies in the final electoral rolls, the DMK has petitioned the Election Commission to withdraw the final electoral rolls published on January 20. The rolls should be prepared afresh, it said.
In a representation to Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Rajesh Lakhoni by a party delegation comprising its deputy general secretary V.P. Duraisamy Friday morning, the DMK urged Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Nasim Zaidi to direct the CEO to withdraw the final rolls released a week ago and instruct electoral registration officers in each constituency to redo the final electoral rolls.
Apprehending that there would be no free and fair elections as contemplated under the Constitution, the DMK said the ensuing Assembly poll would be dominated by bogus voters unless the gross anomalies, which have led to large scale inclusion and deletion of voters, is set right before the next camp scheduled to be held on January 31.
Asserting that the ECI was duty-bound to explain the sudden spurt of voting population from 2011 to 2016 when population census and projected growth rate of voters showed otherwise, the DMK petition, signed by party organising secretary R. S. Bharathi said the mismatch clearly pointed to large scale inclusions in electoral rolls to an extent of about 64 lakh between 2011 and 2016.
The DMK, which has been making these allegations and representations aplenty to the Election Commission, also drew the CEC’s attention to the rise in voting population in the last five years.
Pointing out that the total number of eligible voters accounted only for 65.31 per cent of the total population in 2011, whereas the same had increased to 75.58 per cent in 2015, the DMK said, “Such percentage of voting population is quite absurd in number.” Hence the final electoral rolls should be withdrawn, the party said.
