Youth Cong polls: Vote cast using fake ID card in my name, says lawyer; case registered

Days after BJP State President K Surendran alleged that fake identity cards were used in the Youth Congress elections, a lawyer has filed a complaint regarding the same. The complainant stated that a vote was cast using a fake identity card in his name.
"A vote was caste in the Youth Congress elections using a forged election identity card in my name," Advocate Juwais Muhammad said.

The lawyer claimed that he had stayed away from the election though he was a Youth Congress member and had not renewed his membership in the organisation.
“The elections were conducted by the Youth Congress Election authority. I noticed that my name was listed among the invalid votes on their site. I registered a complaint after realising that they had used the number on my voter id issued by the Election Commission for generating a fake card,” he said.

Based on the complaint, the Muvattupuzha police registered a case under the charges of forgery and making of false documents. The case was registered without naming the accused.

Meanwhile, Youth Congress President Rahul Mamkootathil said that the BJP and CPM were merely trying to distract the public from the election. He added that rejected memberships were not necessarily fake and that he has never seen any app which forged id cards.

Investigation surrounding app
An eight-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) has already been formed to probe the alleged use of fake identity cards to vote in the Youth Congress elections. The team, comprising officials from the Cyber Police, will be led by the Museum SHO (Station House Office). Thiruvananthapuram DCP and Cantonment SI will supervise the probe.

According to reports, the investigation is focussing on the alleged mobile app used for generating fake identity cards. An application will be submitted to Google to find the creator of the CR-Card application. A list of Youth Congress leaders to be summoned will also be compiled by the probe team. 

The police investigation will not be focussed on the alleged bogus voting in Youth Congress elections or the approval of these votes. The team will merely investigate if the voter identification card of Election Commission of India was forged. 

It is suspected that the CR-card app, which does not feature in Google Playstore or App store, was created for forging identity cards. The police have already recovered the application from some Youth Congress workers.The police are currently investigating  aspects like origin and distribution of app with the help of platforms like Google Play.

Meanwhile, the Youth Congress will take the statements of the candidates and voters. The investigation will focus on the application used to make the fake voter IDs, besides probing the ulterior motive of creating such an app. The investigation report is to be submitted to the Election Commission within five days.

BJP state president K Surendran had alleged that the Congress produced 1.25 lakh fake identity cards for the recently held Youth Congress elections. BJP district secretary V V Rajesh has submitted a petition to the Chief Election Commissioner demanding an inquiry into the incident. The DYFI, the youth wing of the CPM, also sought action from the Central Election Commission on the issue.

The incident came to light after candidates who contested in the Youth Congress elections filed a complaint with the Congress alleging irregularities. It was stated in the complaint to the national leadership that the identity card issued by the Election Commission was forged.

Rahul Mamkoottathil was elected the state president of the Indian Youth Congress on November 14. Abin Varkey came second. Both Rahul and Abin were general secretaries in the previous state committee headed by Shafi Parambil. Rahul and Abin have dismissed the allegations raised by Surendran.