Thiruvananthapuram: The Opposition parties in Kerala are wary of the possible misuse of an unusually large number of postal ballots during the Kerala Legislative Assembly elections. Adding to their concern over 33,790 bogus voters have been so far found in the electoral rolls of 14 constituencies though the election body is yet to confirm.
The fear of Opposition parties is natural as about 7,000 votes in each constituency could be postal votes. In Kerala where the winning candidates often have a slender victory margin any misuse of even a few hundred postal ballots could influence the election results decisively.
A few in the opposition ranks suspects that the postal ballots for COVID-19 patients were misused in the 2020 local body elections and that this could be repeated in the April 6 Assembly elections also.
In a high-stakes political battle, officials and police with affinity to the ruling party can commit electoral fraud as postal ballots are handled or conveyed not under public gaze.
How many postal voters
In the wake of the persistence of COVID-19 pandemic in the state, electoral authorities have allowed the postal ballot option for COVID patients and their contacts; those above 80 years of age; and persons with disabilities as long as they are registered on the electoral roll. Apart from these new categories, police personnel and officials on election duty across the country have been utilising the postal vote facility in every elections.
In next month's Kerala state polls, totally, 4.02 lakh people out of the 9.49 lakh voters eligible for casting postal votes in the state applied though as many as 8.87 lakh application forms were distributed, according to the Election Commission. Curiously, the Election Commission has received the most number of applications, 42,214, for postal ballots from Kannur, a district having the dubious distinction of being ahead of others in casting bogus votes!
The last date for applying for postal ballots for the Kerala Legislative Assembly elections had closed on Wednesday.
District | Postal votes
Thiruvananthapuram | 41,744
Kollam | 29,929
Pathanamthitta | 21,407
Alappuzha | 29,340
Kottayam | 29,494
Idukki | 11,797
Ernakulam | 38,770
Thrissur | 41,095
Palakkad | 27,199
Malappuram | 31,493
Kozhikode | 38,036
Wayanad | 7606
Kannur | 42,214
Kasaragod | 12,374
Meena allays fears
Alleging the possible misuse of postal ballots, the Congress and BJP had demanded the Election Commission to initiate preventive measures.
Political parties in the state reckon that the postal ballots would be crucial in constituencies, which may witness strong triangular contests, and where even a small margin would determine victory or
loss.
In anticipation of malpractice, political parties have deployed special committees to monitor postal votes in all booths.
Teeka Ram Meena, Chief Electoral Officer, announced that the poll watchdog is alert and will review the voters’ list.
"Strict surveillance will be in place to prevent the duplication in voters’ list leading to bogus voting. The duplication occurs as people submit multiple applications. We are now examining the voters’ list to see if it has more cases of duplication than pointed out by the Opposition leader. We are considering preventive measures to avoid duplicated names in the list that enable casting of multiple votes," Meena said.
The Commission has ensured the presence of security officials and ordered camera surveillance while casting postal votes, but there are concerns that officials would be threatened to turning a blind eye in the strongholds of certain political parties.
Repetition of names in voters' list
Even as the threat of misusing postal ballots to caste votes by another exists, the duplication of names in voters' list inadvertently or by design has added to the worries of candidates and parties.
Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala came up with the shocking finds the other day.
The names and photographs of the same voters have been repeated in the voters’ list for many places, while in some others, the residential addresses were different, Chennithala claimed.
Officials claim that the software the Election Commission uses to detect duplication is not effective. A list of repetitive names the software had found were forwarded to respective District Collectors. Further scrutiny found that the lists were flawed and software had failed in detecting the duplications.
The likely reasons
Zealous activists of political parties might have added voters' names fraudulently or in collusion with like-minded officials so that their favourite candidates get several votes on the sly. But repetitions are possible when individuals apply more than once until they succeed in adding their names to the electoral list and the authorities fail to vet properly the applications in this regard.
A directive relaxing the scrutiny of applicants before including them in the voters’ list could have led to the duplication of names as found out by the opposition leader.
Earlier, Booth Level Officers (BLOs) used to visit the applicant in person, after receiving the application for adding the name or changing the address on the voters' list. Documents supporting the claim were closely verified before making the addition or changes.
Considering the spread of Covid-19, the Election Commission relaxed the norms for house visit to scrutinise documents this time. The BLOs made the additions or changes as requested in the applications received without proper verification, leading to the inclusion of several ‘fake’ voters in the list.
The relaxation also made BLOs jobs difficult. They missed multiple applications submitted by the same applicant, and all applications were accepted, leading to the duplication of the same names in the list. It is yet to be known whether any political party had exploited the loophole.
BLOs normally would have found the duplication while delivering the voters’ ID card. This did not happen, and it strengthened the suspicion that a deliberate attempt has been made to cast bogus votes by committing voter identity fraud.
The latest valid voters’ list was published on January 20, and a supplementary list is expected on Saturday.
The January 20 list, published after correcting the draft list, contains the names of 2,67,31,509 voters in Kerala. Of the 2,63,08,087 voters in the previous list, the Commission had avoided the duplicated names and the names of deceased from the new list. To that list 5,79,835 new voters, the highest so far, were added. But then the numbers don't add up confirming the duplication of the names of a large number of voters!