Fraudulent voting and voter list irregularities have been around since the election process began. Polling booths are often places where there are tension always and this is a problem. Serious allegations have been levelled against the authenticity of voters’ list prepared for the upcoming assembly elections.
Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala has already lodged a complaint with the Election Commission in three phases, which contained the details of 260,000 fake voters. The UDF leadership is convincing the Election Commission with evidence that names of a large number of fake voters have entered the voter list in many constituencies. It is the duty of the Commission to verify its authenticity and take necessary corrective action. This is essential to maintain the sanctity and credibility of the election. The name of the same voter is added to the voters’ list in several places to facilitate fraud. The fraud is easy to spot as the voters’ list contains not only the name but also the photo. That is why it has helped to detect widespread fraud. The Congress leadership has also lodged a complaint with the Central Election Commission against the voter list in Kerala. With just days to go for the polls, the Election Commission has said it will only be able to find fraudsters and freeze their names on the list and won’t for an overhaul of voters’ list. Regardless of the method adopted to counter this fraud, fraudulent voters should not be allowed to vote for any reason. That must be strictly ensured.

It is time to seriously consider bringing in a single electoral roll applicable to all elections without preparing a separate voter list for each election. With more than 90% of the people having taken Aadhaar, it is not difficult to link the voter list with Aadhaar. Doing so will completely prevent fraudulent voting and impersonation. There will be a single voter list that can be used equally for all elections.

The central government has already come up with the idea of one country, one voter list. Opposition parties opposed the move. Many services, including bank accounts, ration cards and telephone connections, are now Aadhaar-based. The voter list can be easily be linked to Aadhaar. Political parties are generally opposed to the new reforms, as no one is behind when it comes to reaping electoral gain by rigging the voter list and voting. Considering the increasing nature and magnitude of the manipulations, urgent action is needed. Deliberate manipulation of the voters’ list is one of the many ways to subvert people’s mandate. The first step to resolve the above complaint is to find a way to completely eliminate fraudsters from the voter list.