Chennai: A social activist, claiming to be in the possession of the needed facts and figures, said that names of some 12 lakh Muslims are missing from the Tamil Nadu voters lists.
The social activist, who shared the information with this writer on the condition of anonymity, said that he has got this information from 25,000 mosques across Tamil Nadu.
"The mosques have given me the lists of Muslims whose names are not listed in the voters list of the area. This names if added together comes to about 12 lachs in Tamil Nadu", he claimed.
Similar claims were made recently in Karntaka before the 2018 state elections. The Center For Research and Debates in Development Policy (CRDDP) New Delhi, had in fact launched mobile phone app for about 18 lakh Muslims in Karnataka whose names were either missing from the voters list or they didn't have the voter ID cards issued in their name.
Likewise, the Madhya Pradesh Congress had claimed that there were as many as 60 lakh bogus voters in the poll bound states. The Election Commission of India later dismissed Congress charges.
While the states of South India is getting alive to this harsh reality because of the fact that many social activists are working in this area in these states and collecting the data. This phenomenon could be prevalent in other states of India as well. And if so, if added together will definitely throw a big number at the national level.
It is therefore a high time that a reality check is done at the national level using mosque as base for the head count of those whose names are missing from the electoral rolls. There is a nagging feeling that something fishy is being cooked to produce unexpected results as the magician is all charged to pull the rabbit from his hat.
Willy-nillying this is going to be a big issue in the run up to the general election in 2019. It is high time that Muslims wake up to this reality and check their names in the voters list, and raise hue and cry if their names are missing much ahead of the General Election of 2019. Else, there will be no point in crying over the spilt milk.
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