POLL

General/Bye elections-Impersonation at election-Check measures.

Election Commission's letter No. 576/3/84/-LSII, dated 7th November, 1984 for Chief Electoral Officers of States/Union Territories.

Subject :- General/Bye-elections - Impersonation at elections - check measures.

I1. I am directed to state that measures to effectively prevent impersonation during elections have been under the consideration of the Commission.

2. As you are aware, impersonation is an offence under section 171-D of the I.P.C. Under this section a person who applies for a voting paper of votes in the name of another person, whether living or dead or in a fictitious name or who having voted once at an election applies for voting paper again or whoever abates etc, commits the offence of impersonation (i.e. bogus voting) and any such offence is punishable with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to one year or with fine or with both.

3. You are also aware that under Commission's instructions the unofficial identity slips brought by voters should not be accepted as establishing the voter's identity. It is the duty of the Polling Officer concerned with identification to take the slip from the voter and ask him to give out details of his name, etc., so they may be checked with the details given in the electoral roll. This procedure would, to a large extent, be a safeguard against impersonation and therefore should be scrupulously followed in every polling station.

4. The Commission is of the opinion that in order to check impersonation, the provisions of section 171-D of the I.P.C. should be given wide publicity during elections, so that the voters may know the consequences of the practice of bogus voting and may be discouraged from indulging in the same.

5. Similarly the instructions of the Commission referred to in paragraph 3 above should be printed and given to each polling station so that those instructions may serve the objective.

6. I am therefore, to request that action as indicated above may kindly be taken at the time of all future elections.

7. The earlier instructions of the Commission contained in its letter No. 23/78, dated 31st August 1978 may be treated as supersede.

8. The receipt of this letter may kindly be acknowledged.



BACK TO INDEX I NEXT DOCUMENT I BACK TO SEARCH I