THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala has said that rampant irregularities were reported in connection with the inclusion of names in the voter’s list. He said that six identity cards were issued to a person named Kumari from the Uduma constituency. “Such incidents have happened in other constituencies also. Through such malicious activities, a plot is being made to sabotage the poll process in the state,” he said.

“Multiple voter identity cards were issued to the same person in a constituency. The same name is included in three or four constituencies. As an example, I would like to point out the irregularities in the 154th booth in Uduma. Thousands of similar bogus voters are included in each assembly constituency in the state but the UDF workers worked hard to bring this scam to the limelight. 4,506 bogus voters are there in the Kazhakootam constituency, 2,534 voters in Kollam, 1,436 in Trikarippur, 4,611 in Koilandy, 6,171 in Nadappuram, 3,525 in Kotthuparambu, and 4,750 in Ambalapuzha. Thus rampant irregularities were committed by officials concerned in the voter’s list,” he told presspersons.

“An organized effort is being made to include bogus voters in all 140 constituencies in the state. A clear conspiracy had held in the state-level behind this scam. This was carried out with the help of officials entrusted with the task of voter’s list preparation. It cannot be done without their support. The officials who were appointed for the task of voter’s list preparation have committed serious lapses in their duty by showing undue lenience towards the ruling party,” the opposition leader alleged.

He also added that unlike the previous time, when even the dead were included in the voter’s list to commit bogus voting under their name, now they have devised a new way for bogus voting—by issuing multiple voter ID cards to the same person. He further said that he will ask the poll panel to scrutinize the voter’s list and strike down those names which were repeated. The opposition leader also called for EC’s probe into the issue. “The officials involved in this scam should be brought before the law and they should be punished accordingly,” he said.