THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: State Chief Electoral Officer Teeka Ram Meena has confirmed bogus voting in the Kasaragod constituency. K.P. Sumaayya, Selina and Padmini have been verified as the bogus voters. Padmini voted two times. A.P. Selina has to resign as Panchayat member and face probe. Sumayya, a former Panchayat member will also face the probe.

The presiding officer has committed fault, it has been found. Congress alleges that Thirikkarippur, Payyannur, and Pilathara are places with the most number of bogus votes.

Hours after voting was completed on April 23, the Congress alleged that three women had cast their votes twice in violation of rules. It also posted videos supporting their claim on social media.

"The preliminary report submitted by the returning officer of the district has confirmed that three women indulged in bogus voting by casting their votes twice. Two of them were not even residents of the area falling under that particular booth. A preliminary inquiry has found the women to be supporters of the LDF," Meena told reporters on Monday.
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"The returning officer has been asked to file police complaints against the three women. Legal action will also be taken against the poll officials of this booth because they failed to fulfil their election duties," the Chief Electoral Officer said.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has rejected the charge, maintaining that the three women were present in the booth only to perform "open voting", which involves assisting voters who are unable to cast their votes independently. It has welcomed a probe into the allegations.

News agency PTI quoted Mr Meena as saying that as one of the three women seen engaged in "bogus voting" is a serving panchayat member, she may be required to step down from the post. He also claimed that he was hearing the term "open voting" for the first time.

"As per our law, there is no open vote. When I asked the collector about this, he told me the term may be the colloquial parlance for assisted or companion voting. Maybe there is a local reference like that, but even in the case of a companion vote, the voter must be present inside the booth. They could have brought the voter in a wheelchair," he told reporters.