New Delhi: The Election Commission on Wednesday asked the Chief Electoral Officer, Tamil Nadu, to file first information reports (FIRs) against political functionaries who allegedly stuffed bulk applications carrying bogus names for inclusion in the electoral rolls.

Assembly elections are due in the State next year.

According to highly placed sources, the Commission had asked the CEO to direct the Electoral Registration Officers (ERO) to file complaints before the Magistrates concerned, and that all such cases be vigorously pursued till their logical conclusion.

Meeting on Thursday

Deputy Election Commissioner Anand Kumar is rushing to Tamil Nadu tonight. He will hold discussions with the CEO and other senior officials on Thursday to ensure that the FIRs were registered without delay.

He is also expected to hold discussions on a special summary revision of the electoral rolls to be undertaken with January 1 as the qualifying date.

As a first step, a draft of electoral rolls of all the 234 Assembly constituencies would be published and displayed.

Sources said out of over 19.39 lakh applications filed till May 31, nearly 13 lakh had been rejected after field verification. Complaints could be filed with Magistrates in all those cases where it was found that the claimants were not ordinarily residing at the address given in Form 6; claimants were below 18 years even on the last day of filing claims and objections; and the signature on the application was not that of the applicant. Action should also be initiated against all those found to have filed false claims in bulk in any of the three categories.

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