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3 lakh bogus voters found in Modi’s Varanasi seat?

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It appears that the Election Commission has so far traced 3,11,057 fake voters who cast their votes in Varanasi in the Lok Sabha election earlier this year. The district administration is expecting the number of fake voters to reach around 6,47,085 by the end of the examination process.

Remember – Narendra Modi ‘won’ this seat by 3 lakh 71 thousand 784 votes.

This news was first reported in Navbharat Times on November 25, 2014:

जिस वाराणासी संसदीय सीट से नरेंद्र मोदी ने 371784 वोटों से जीत हासिल की है, वहां 311057 फर्जी वोटर मिले हैं। अभी गिनती जारी है और जिला प्रशासन का अनुमान है कि फर्जी वोटरों की संख्या 647085 जा सकती है। इतनी बड़ी संख्या में फर्जी वोटर पहली बार वाराणसी में सामने आए हैं। लाखों की तादाद में मिले फर्जी वोटरों का खुलासा तब हुआ जब भारत निर्वाचन आयोग के निर्देश पर जिला प्रशासन ने मतदाता सूची का पुनरीक्षण अभियान शुरू किया। जिले के सभी पोलिंग सेंटर पर तैनात बूथ लेवल ऑफिसर से घर-घर जाकर मतदाताओं का सत्यापन करवाने के बाद इन बोगस वोटरों का खुलासा हुआ है।

Aaj Tak reported it on November 26, 2014:

प्रधानमंत्री नरेंद्र मोदी और उनकी पार्टी बीजेपी के लिए मुश्किलें बढ़ाने वाली खबर है. खबरों के मुताबिक, नरेंद्र मोदी के संसदीय क्षेत्र वाराणसी में 3 लाख 11 हजार 57 फर्जी वोटर मिले हैं. याद रहे कि यहां मोदी ने 3,71,784 वोटों से आम आदमी पार्टी के अरविंद केजरीवाल को हराया था.

बताया जा रहा है कि फर्जी वोटरों की गिनती अभी जारी है और जिला प्रशासन का अनुमान है कि फर्जी वोटरों की संख्या 6 लाख 47 हजार से ज्यादा जा सकती है. इतनी बड़ी संख्या में फर्जी वोटर वाराणसी में पहली बार सामने आए हैं. ये वे लोग हैं जिन्होंने दो या उससे ज्यादा विधानसभा क्षेत्र की मतदाता सूची में अपना नाम लिखवा रखा है. इसी के साथ सोशल मीडिया पर AAP समर्थक नरेंद्र मोदी पर फर्जी मतों से जीत हासिल करने का आरोप लगाने लगे हैं. गौरतलब है कि आम आदमी पार्टी पहले भी बीजेपी पर फर्जी वोट डलवाने का आरोप लगाती रही है.

According to Shubhanshu Sharma:
If we go by district administration’s claims, they are expecting to find around 1,12,160 bogus voters in Pindra, 1,01,456 in Ajgara, 87,140 in Shivpur, 84,757 in Rohania, 65,989 in Cantt, and 90,942 in Sewapuri regions. 
Kohram News had claimed soon after results were declared in May 2014 that the calculation of votes in the Varanasi seat was anomalous:
Kohram News had also publicized the news of the EVM found in the home of Ankit Gaurav Srivastava, an engineer in Varanasi, the night before the elections.  This news had circulated widely, including on Kafila.
If this is true, what next? As I understand it, according to Article 329 of the Constituion of India, for an election to be set aside, an election petition must be presented “to such authority and in such manner as may be provided for by or under any law made by the appropriate Legislature.”

The Election Commission later recommended that trial of election petitions should be entrusted to the High Courts instead of election tribunals. Parliament thus enacted Section 80-A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 providing that the High Court shall be the authority for presentment of election petitions under Article 329 (b) of the Constitution. This was incorporated by an amendment in the year 1966 (Act 47 of 1966).

The last time the election of a sitting Prime Minister was set aside for corrupt electoral practices, on June 12, 1975, Indira Gandhi (for it was she), declared a state of emergency.

We can expect no less from a Prime Minister who watches benignly over the continuous and growing humiliation of minorities and murderous attacks  on them; and who carefully supervises the wholesale handing over of the country to the biggest and most corrupt corporate bidders.

There is a lot at stake for Modi and his corporate bosses. And now they have the full backing of state power.

Nevertheless, if the news of bogus voters in Varanasi is true, Modi’s election should be set aside through due process.

14 thoughts on “3 lakh bogus voters found in Modi’s Varanasi seat?”

  1. It will be necessary to find out just when all these bogus voters were added to the lists. Was it done after Modi had decided to contest from Varanasi?

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    1. Yeah!! He was the one riding Adani’s jet everyday. He was the one running Rs.5000 cr campaign. He is the one paying off Adani today with 6200 cr SBI loan.

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  4. If this is true, this must be the first time that a party in opposition both in the state and Centre rigged election at such a level. In India, that is. In places like Honduras and Ukraine, I believe it is commonplace.

    The last time the election of a sitting Prime Minister was set aside for corrupt electoral practices, on June 12, 1975, Indira Gandhi (for it was she), declared a state of emergency.

    Niveditaji, I hope it doesnt come to that. Last time IG was dumb enuff to call off the emergency. ModiGee might not repeat the same mistake this time……

    Regards

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    1. Firstly, I dont think that it’ll come to that (emergency) however, in case it does, all the good because they’ll (current govt.) lose its legitimacy and the mad march of corporate fascisim will stop…..atleast momentarily.

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  5. Hope you will be honest enough to approve this comment.

    Here is what happened:

    Step 1: Jagran published news about a *duplicate* voters.

    Step 2: AAP distorted this news to say that 3 lakh ‘fake’ voters have been found in Varanasi. AAP’s social brigade started circulating the lie through social media.

    Step 3: Navbharat Times, Amar Ujala, Rajasthan Patrika and Aaj Tak picked up this news from AAP’s Facebook page and published it without verifying its authenticity. (Goes on to show the standards of ‘journalism’ in this country.)

    Step 4: Some news houses actually bothered to contact the Election Commission officials, and found the news to be bogus: http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/news/news-of-fake-voters-in-varanasi-is-wrong/346403?curl=1417108316

    Step 5: Niveda Menon of Kafila published this lie despite the fact that it has been denied by the Election Commission officials.

    And all of you – AAP supporters and self-proclaimed ‘secular intellectuals’ hint that Narendra Modi was responsible for the alleged ‘fake’ voters, although at the time of voter list preparation and election, BJP was not in power either in Uttar Pradesh, or in Varanasi.

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    1. I was always aware that this news might not be true, hence the question mark in the title and the statement “If this is true”.
      Navarama, certainly the steps you outline in how this evolved into a news story sound plausible. It is indeed often how something becomes “news” in this mediatized age.
      Nevertheless I don’t see why it is wrong of a citizenry to be alert to possible subversion of the electoral process.
      Of course, you might want to reconsider whether NDTV is “anti-Modi” any longer. it is pretty well known that the channel switched sides because of financial reasons a couple of months before the elections.

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    2. although Nivedita’s reply is enough i need to say this: please learn “close reading” of texts before pronouncing words like “all of you”
      and, yes, prannoy roy is pretty slippery on the belly…

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  8. The Election Commission has denied reports that it had discovered three lakh bogus voters in Varanasi, the constituency represented by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Instead they say that there are 6.47 lakh repeated names.
    Says Scroll.in

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  9. Actually the process was to compare both the voter’s as well as his father’s name with other voters. This reduces the probability of merely duplicate voters. Also consider that 6.5 lakh duplicate names were found in a constituency with 17 lakh voters, how does that occur? Seems like too many repeated names to me. could any mathematician clarify the issue? Link to the process – http://www.outlookindia.com/article/Ink-On-Your-Hands/292748.

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  10. Pingback: BJP’s bravado on exit polls – do they know something about EVMs that we don’t? | Kafila

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