After Kannur, impersonation row hits Vote-From-Home in Kozhikode

Kozhikode: LDF has approached the district authority with a complaint over voter impersonation at booth number 84 of Peruvayal under Kunnamangalam constituency here on Saturday. In the complaint, LDF alleged that the polling officials who are in charge of the vote-from-home initiative recorded the vote of the senior citizen who is not named in the voters' list.

The District Collector has suspended four officials including two polling officers, a micro observer and a Booth-Level Officer over the incident. The action was taken against the officials after finding lapses in examining the identity proof of the voter. The district collector who is the district election officer also directed the police commissioner to register a case and launch a probe.

 

It is learnt that confusion in the name of the voter led to the alleged impersonation. Instead of  92-year-old Payamburath Janakiyamma, the officials visited the house of Kodasseri Janakiyamma who was not named in the voters' list and made her cast the vote for the Lok Sabha elections on Saturday.

LDF accused the officials of engaging in the polling duty without examining the voters' list properly. The booth agent of the front told Manorama News that the Booth Level Officer quarrelled with him when he voiced against the mistake. 

Meanwhile, Payamburath Janakiyamma is upset about losing her chance to vote. But, Kodasseri Janakiyamma claimed that she had no idea about the removal of her name from the voters' list. At the same time, LDF alleged that she engaged in bogus voting with the help of polling officials.

In Kannur, several polling officers faced action over alleged vote rigging and impersonation in the vote-from-home facility.