ES Reporter

 

ITANAGAR, Oct 2: Speculating possible discrepancies in the Enrolment process, the Illegal Voter Enrolment Clean Drive Committee of 16th Yachuli Constituency under Lower Subansiri district, claimed that there was an ‘unprecedented surge’ of bogus voters in two of its Booth Level villages under Pistana Circle and demanded that a ‘Free & Fair’, ‘democratically sound’ Enrolment process must be ensured by the Administration.

Speaking to the reporters at Arunachal Press Club on Tuesday, the observing Committee’s Adviser, Likha Teni pointed that there were 231 bogus voters in Polling Booth of (08) Pania out of 565 enrolled voters and 411 bogus voters in Polling Booth of 18- Yoglu, mostly ‘non-locals’ alleging that the outnumbering non-local voters were Agri-Horti based labourers and domestic help having no confirmed documentations.

“Most of these enrolments have been made possible through fabricated documentations by some vested and influential  individuals of the Constituency. The number of native (credible) voters is far less than has been seen until the recent electoral roll. It is a subject of great concern as it terribly affects demography.  Lack of proper identification may lead to law and order matters in the future," he added.

Implying that bogus votes is a direct threat to the ‘freedom of choice’ and mandate of natives, another advisor Toko Teki speculated that pressure from the higher ups may have compelled  the concerned Electoral Registration Officers, Assistant Electoral Registration Officers and spelt out that Administration must ensure security for the officers concerned.

The Committee alleged that there are erroneous inclusions in the electoral list; a single person is enrolled repeatedly multiple times with mere changes in names. Committee urged the administration to cross-examine documents such as NOC of the non-local voters included and opined that single voter must be allowed to cast a single vote in one place.

“Hearing of electoral for 8-Pania and 18-Yoglu is to be held on October 4, we seek proper arrangements of credentials for the true voters and all illegal voters should be rectified through free and fair Enrolment process,” he said while clarifying that the anomalies have been identified after close examination of information obtained from RTI filed by one Tania Linia (3rd October 2016) seeking documents of newly enrolled voters of the two villages under Pistana Circle.

Earlier on September 28, the committee had also served a representation to the Chief Election Officer, Arunachal Pradesh demanding fair enrolment.