Quite often, we have been hearing about enrolment bogus voters during the elections to parliament, state assemblies and even the local body elections across India.
Since the voters’ enrolment is done online and the authorities have obviously little time to verify the credentials of each and every voter who applies online, bogus voting goes on unabatedly.
The influence of local political parties, particularly the ruling party, will also play major role in the enrolment of bogus voters and deletion of genuine voters.
Surprisingly, there have been allegations of such bogus enrolment of voters even in the ensuing elections to Telugu Association of North America, the largest organisation meant for welfare of Telugu people in the USA.
Since it is a prestigious organisation and huge money is at stake, some groups trying to capture the executive committee have reportedly indulged in enrolment of bogus voters in the name of address change requests.
According to a complaint received by the board of directors of TANA, a lot of requests have been made for the change of addresses of TANA members have come on February 15, the last date of update of voters’ list.
Upon checking and verifying a few of them randomly, the complainant noticed that multiple members addresses have been updated to the same address by producing tampered utility bills and wrong email addresses.
For example, there were at least nine applications seeking change of addresses and all of them have shown the same address (1627 NORTHLAKE DR, TROY, MI 48083) with same utility bill number: 9200 149 5966 1
Similarly, as many as 13 people have shown the same address (1584 BRENTWOOD DR, TROY, MI 48098) with same DTE Bill Account Number: 9200 149 5966 1.
Another 11 persons have produced utility bills with just edited name (same account number), while another seven persons were found to be from the same address: 22731 CLEARWATER CT APT 101, NOVI, MI 48375-4653, with same DTE Bill Account Number 9200 067 3127 6.
“These are just random findings and we have received around 4,000 address change requests and we are not sure about the authenticity of the address proofs. We should act firmly in identifying and rejecting the tampered and invalid address changes,” the complainant said.