Poll panel’s carelessness paves way for vote rigging; shortcomings must be addressed: UTK

Mangaluru, May 14: Even though the Election Commission has taken elaborate measures to ensure free and fair polls, a few shortcomings and negligence on part of the babus in just concluded Karnataka assembly polls had created enormous confusions and increased the possibilities of vote rigging, said U T Khader, Minister for Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs.

The three-time MLA, who contested from Mangaluru City (erstwhile Ullal) constituency seeking election for the fourth constrictive term, told media persons in the city today that faulty Electronic Voting Machines, failure to distribute voter slips to all houses, and lack of facilities in some polling booths haunted voters in some parts of the state.

“Many voters did not receive voters’ slips till last moment as the Booth Level Officers (BLO) failed to distribute them to voters on time. On the other hand BLOs issued the slips to local political leaders. In many instances party leaders distributed the voters’ slips only to their respective party members and followers,” he said.

Mr Kahder also pointed out that door numbers were not mentioned in the voters’ slips, which is again a case of carelessness on part of the Election Commission. “BLOs will naturally face difficulties in distributing voters’ slips to the people if there is no door number,” he said.

He further complained that in many polling booths the officers allowed people to vote without any official ID proofs. “They allowed voters’ to vote on the basis of voters’ slip wherein the photo of candidate is not clearly visible. This is a boon for impersonators. There are high chances of some politicians sending lookalikes to the booths to cast votes illegally,” he lamented.

Lack of wheelchairs in polling booths was another shortcoming, he pointed out adding that the Election Commission should not be indifferent towards providing necessary facilities to the elderly and disabled voters.

Mr Khader urged the Election Commission to list out its shortcomings in the recent polls and take necessary steps to prevent their recurrence in upcoming Lok Sabha elections.