Delhi CEO to answer plea on voter IDs

NEW DELHI: Delhi's chief electoral officer, Vijay Dev, was on Monday directed by a trial court to file his response on a plea alleging that voter IDs were issued to migrants to satisfy vested interests of political parties.

The court issued a notice to Dev on a complaint filed by Delhi resident, Satyavir Singh, who alleged that people registered as voters in other states have also been issued voter IDs in the capital.

Additional sessions judge Sudesh Kumar directed Dev to reply by April 5. In his complaint, Singh said, "The essence of democracy is the holding of free and fair elections... based on a genuine list. Delhi is the capital and lakhs of people have (moved here) from other states. Even people from Bangladesh have got themselves enrolled as voters in Delhi while holding voter's ID cards at their native villages."

He alleged that the entire "manipulation was done in collusion with the administrative machinery". It is mandatory for the election commission to carry out verification before entering the name of voters on electoral lists, he stated, adding that no such vetting was carried out ahead of last year's assembly elections in Delhi.

Singh approached the trial court after a magisterial court declined his request and refused to inquire into allegations made by him of "fake and bogus votes".