As many as 48 individuals who are foreign to the jurisdiction of Ward No 1 of the Sekmai Municipal Council (SMC) were found to be included in the electoral roll of the ward, alleged caretaker councillor of the ward Thiyam Surjit on Wednesday.
Speaking to the media at the Manipur Press Club in Imphal, Surjit, who was accompanied by the members of Progressive Youth Development Organisation (PYDO) and Paraokhomba Development Association (PDO), said the total number of voters of SMC Ward No 1 is 1036.
Stating that the numbers of voters in the ward is much higher than other wards of the SMC, he said it is unfortunate that the Electoral Registration Officer/SDO Lamsang had added 48 new voters who do not belong to that jurisdiction.
A joint meeting of the PYDO and PDO conducted on April 25 had condemned such action and had served a written complaint to the concerned SDO on numerous occasions to the concerned SDO, he said, alleging that the officials had not given a single reply in this regard.
Further alleging that adding of the 48 new voters totally violated the Rules and Regulation of the SMC issued in form of gazette notification, he appealed to the higher authority of the state government to look into this matter and initiate legal action against the SDO and other officials involved in such fraud.
The caretaker councillor also apprised the state government to let the people of the ward know whether the 48 individuals will be allowed to be voters of the ward or not in the ensuing Panchayat Election 2023.
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