TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu writes to EC over 'fake voters' in Andhra MLC polls

Amaravati (Andhra Pradesh) [India], March 12 (ANI): Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Sunday wrote to the Election Commission (EC) alleging enrollment of fake and bogus voters into the noters list of Graduates' constituency in the Legislative Council polls in the state.
In his letter to the chief election commissioner, the TDP chief claimed the presence and intrusion of bogus and fake voters in the present MLC elections to Graduate and Teachers' constituencies in Andhra Pradesh.
"It is high time to resolve the entry of fake and bogus voters in to the MLC voter list with the active connivance between the ruling YSRCP and a section of Government employees that are on election duties as Election Authorities viz Assistant Electoral Registration Officer (AERO), Electoral Registration Officer (ERO), other Election Authorities in the districts and the concerned individuals," he said.
In Andhra Pradesh, Naidu said the ruling YSRCP in collusion with a section of election officials is making the entire election process a mockery by including bogus and fake voters in to the voter list.
"Sadly, Andhra Pradesh, under the present Government, has become the epicentre for unlawful and criminal activities. Earlier, during by-polls to Tirupati parliament constituency too, several bogus and fake voters were enrolled by creating fake Electoral Photo Identity Cards (EPIC) to the bogus and fake voters. The same appears to be repeating in the present MLC elections to the Graduates' constituency," he wrote.
Naidu further said that people who did not study a degree at all were enrolled with forged, bogus and fake certificates, while simultaneously fake addresses were used to enroll large number of people in favour of YSRCP-supported candidate in the present MLC elections.
As seen from the voters' list 30 votes, 38 votes, 34 votes etc, have the same house address, which is a clear indication of presence of clandestine voters in the voter list. The Electoral Officer without conducting proper verification, it appears, had included bogus/fake voters, he claimed.
"The Electoral Officers in collusion with the ruling party leaders accepted fake degree holders as voters through submission of forged marks list and degree certificate. A section of Electoral Officers in collusion with the YSRCP leaders had accepted the applications from them, perhaps, without bothering to verify the application and certificates," the former Andhra Pradesh CM said.
In this backdrop, Naidu urged the Election Commission to take immediate steps to direct the concerned polling authorities and police officers in Andhra Pradesh to register and pursue criminal cases against those involved in the enrollment of the fake and bogus voters.
Further, it is important to take the issue of the inclusion of fake and bogus voters in the voters' list to a logical conclusion in order to ensure such issues are not repeated in the future, he said. (ANI)