Digvijaya Flags ‘Bogus Voters’ in MP Rolls

• Digvijaya Singh submits complaint to MP Chief Electoral Officer
• Allegations of dozens of voters registered at single residential addresses
• Claims SIR voter verification process may have been compromised
• Election officials say complaint will be examined as per rules

GG News Bureau
Bhopal, 9th March: A fresh controversy has emerged over electoral rolls in Madhya Pradesh after former Chief Minister and Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh submitted documents to the state’s Chief Electoral Officer alleging large-scale irregularities in the voter list of the Narela Assembly constituency in Bhopal.

Singh visited the state Election Office on Monday and presented what he described as documentary evidence suggesting that a large number of voters have been registered at residential addresses where only a few people actually reside.

The complaint relates to the recently completed Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists carried out to verify and update electoral rolls.

According to the documents submitted by Singh, several houses in Ratan Colony in the Karond area of Ward 75 have unusually high numbers of voters registered at their addresses.

He alleged that in some cases 30 to 40 voters are listed at houses where only six to eight family members live, raising concerns about the accuracy of the voter rolls.

To support the allegations, Singh submitted affidavits from homeowners citing specific examples.

One such case involves House No. 21 owned by Hamir Singh Yadav, which has six rooms and only four eligible voters in the family. However, the electoral roll reportedly lists around 39 to 40 voters registered at the same address.

Another example cited was House No. 10 owned by Kamlesh Kumar Gupta, where about eight legitimate voters reside, but the voter list shows around 36 names linked to the property.

Similarly, Pokhan Lal Sahu, owner of House No. 2, stated in his affidavit that only seven voters live in his house, yet the electoral roll shows about 37 names registered there.

The homeowners claimed that many of the listed individuals have never lived at their addresses and are unknown to them.

Digvijaya Singh alleged that the door-to-door verification exercise under the SIR process may not have been conducted properly.

According to the complainants, Booth Level Officers (BLOs) failed to conduct physical verification at several houses, resulting in the inclusion of what they described as bogus voters.

The Congress leader also alleged that while a large number of questionable entries were added to the rolls, the names of several genuine voters had been removed during the revision process.

Singh demanded a thorough investigation by the Election Commission and strict action against officials responsible for negligence or manipulation.

“The integrity of elections depends on the credibility of the voter list. If such large discrepancies exist, they must be investigated and corrected before any electoral exercise,” Singh said after submitting the complaint.

Responding to the allegations, Chief Electoral Officer Sanjeev Kumar Jha confirmed that the complaint had been received and would be examined according to legal procedures.

He explained that the deletion of a voter’s name requires a formal complaint through Form-7, along with verification by election officials.

“Lower-level officers conduct the verification process and assist in resolving such issues. Whatever facts emerge from the inquiry, appropriate action will be taken as per the rules,” Jha said.

One of the complainants, Kamlesh Kumar Gupta, said he has been living at the same address since 2007 and has repeatedly raised concerns about suspicious entries in the voter list.

According to Gupta, around 70 questionable names were earlier linked to his address, and even after the recent revision exercise about 42 names still remain on the list.

Another complainant, Pokhan Lal Sahu, claimed that 65 fake names were previously linked to his house, and despite complaints and affidavits submitted to authorities, 37 names still remain on the electoral roll.

Singh was accompanied by several Congress leaders and residents, including Ratan Kumar Gupta, Pokhan Lal Sahu and Dev Narayan Vishwakarma, when he submitted the documents to the Election Commission.