MBT casts doubts on voter verification

• MBT president questions as to how more than 100 votes were registered with the same door number
• The party demanded that EC provide a 15-day period for political parties to verify the final voter list

Yakutpura: Pointing out an instance where more than 100 voters are foundt to be registered with the same address in the supplementary voters’ list, the Majlis Bachao Tehreek (MBT) on Tuesday alleged that there are thousands of houses that remained to be verified by the GHMC and Election Commission officials. 

Speaking to The Hans India, party president, Majidullah Khan Farhat alleged that all the claims of verification by the Election Commission officials were farce, as the anomalies in the voter list continued to remain even in the latest updated supplementary voter list. 

He questioned as to how more than a 100 votes were registered with a single door number.  

Challenging the ongoing verification process by the State Election Commission, the MBT leader said that the team of Anganwadi workers who were given the job of Booth Level Officers (BLO) were incompetent and did not have the expertise required of a responsible government official. 

He said that the very purpose of holding elections would be a sham, if the officials verifying the voter list does not stand accountable in view of ‘grave errors’ in the voter list. 

According to Farhat, the verification process is not taking into account an important fact that some families residing in rented houses shifted their houses many times during the last two decades. 

As they move out to new houses, many register their names, he added. This fact, he said, was not being taken into consideration, and it is making way for duplication and bogus votes. 

It could be misused at the time of elections, he added. “Even though the officials claimed to be using some software to clear anomalies, the latest list does not support their claims,” he noted. 

The MBT president demanded the Election Commission to provide a 15-day time period for the political parties to verify the final list before going to election. 

“Since there is a chance that thousands of bogus votes can be used on the day of election, we ask the officials to provide a chance to verify the list,” he added.