MAPUSA: In a letter to Election Commission of India (ECI), a resident of Socorro has raised the issue of fake voters in the panchayat jurisdiction.
Socorro resident Kalpana S Morajkar claimed that BJP leader and panch member Kirti Kudnekar and her husband Kartik Kudnekar, who are party’s Zilla Panchayat candidate have been trying to manipulate the electoral process through fake voters.
In her letter Kalpana stated, “There are several names in the electoral roll that have either shifted their residence or are staying on rental basis and their names are registered in this ward wherein they are actually not residing. This has been an issue during elections and there has to be some accountability. Such unauthorised persons are allowed to vote during Zilla Panchayat and Assembly elections, which is unfair to the people holding ballot voting permits as per the verified electoral roll. I strongly believe that such actions are politically motivated.”
“An example of this issue is in Ward 5 of Socorro panchayat in Porvorim constituency represented by Kirti Kudnekar. These bogus voters have been issued voter ID cards without following the due process of verification /diligence as a result of which the number of voters have increased in the village of Socorro and some parts of Penha de Franca and Salvador do Mundo,” Kalpana alleged.
“The inclusion of these names has to be duly verified by the BLO and the mamlatdar should take effective steps for deleting the names accordingly. Moreover, the online system of complaint application is not only opaque but also very unreliable considering we do not know the status of our application and whether the complaint application filed by us has been acted upon or not. This needs to be verified and deletion of the names of all those individuals who have either shifted the residence or are staying on rental basis and are not residing in the address have to be submitted to the election officer in Socorro panchayat of Porvorim constituency immediately”, Kalpana Morajkar demanded.
