KALIYIKKAVILAI : With only a day left before Tamil Nadu (TN) goes to polls and barely a week remaining for polling in Kerala, the booth-level officers in the areas bordering Thiruvananthapuram district and Kanyakumari district in TN have launched efforts to prevent dual voting since a section of voters is included in the electoral list of both the states.
Neyyattinkara taluk tahsildar K Johnson has already handed over a list containing 73 persons, who have votes in Kerala and TN, to the Election Commission (EC) of India. The EC is also keenly watching the dual voting technique in select borders. If the public or political parties lodge complaints about dual voting, action will be initiated against the offenders, Johnson said.
According to Johnson, efforts are on to collect the details of the remaining voters included in the voters’ lists in Parassala, Kunnathukal, Vellarada and Karode panchayats and also in Tamil Nadu, to remove them from the list before the elections in Kerala.
Booth-level officers at Parassala and Vellarada village offices said the details of more than 150 persons who have residences in Neyyattinkara taluk in the state and Vilavancode, Killiyoor and Padmanabhapuram taluks in TN are being verified to prevent dual voting. “We will verify the details with TN counterparts after the completion of elections in TN on Thursday.
If we find that people with two addresses have cast their votes in TN, they will be removed from the list in Kerala to avoid duplication and bogus voting. We will also ensure the electorate who did not cast their votes in TN get an opportunity to vote in Kerala,” Johnson told Express.
Verification under way
The verification of the voters’ list in TN is under way. The local residents said many of the voters have a tendency to cast votes in TN. There is a considerable amount of Malayali population in Vilavancode, Killiyoor and Padmanbhapuram taluks.