15 lakh bogus votes to be weeded out in Hyderabad

Hyderabad, July 21: Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao has said that steps were initiated to delete 15 lakh bogus votes in Hyderabad. The CM was speaking to reporters after holding a meeting with Chief Electoral Officer Bhanwar Lal. The CM said that Aadhaar-voter ID linking exercise will be completed first in Hyderabad and it would be extended to the entire state in a phase wise manner. Bhanwar Lal called on the CM following the Election Commission of India (ECI) directive to states to link Aadhaar with voter ID cards. They said that voters who had not linked their voter Ids with Aadhaar numbers will not be allowed to exercise vote in the ensuing GHMC elections. ECI mandates that number of votes in any area should not exceed 66% of the population but in Hyderabad the ratio is higher. Of the 119 Assembly segments in the State, 24 are in GHMC region and bogus voters may undermine fortunes of political parties, he said. He directed the officials to complete Voter ID-Aadhar linkage before the GHMC wards delimitation process.