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Hyderabad, Oct 17 (IANS) Police have registered a case following a complaint by election officials in Telangana’s Jubilee Hills Assembly constituency regarding fake social media posts claiming that film actresses were added to the voter list ahead of the November 11 bypolls with distorted images and fake EPIC numbers.
Madhura Nagar police registered the case on the complaint of Assistant Electoral Registration Officer Syed Yahiya Kamal regarding fake posts circulated on social media alleging that actresses were added to the voter list with distorted photographs, modified addresses and fake EPIC numbers.
Police registered a case under sections 336(4), 353(1)(C) of the Indian Justice Code (BNS).
Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) – Jubilee Hills has urged citizens not to believe or share unverified social media content regarding changes in voter lists.
Hyderabad District Election Officer RV Karnan said, it has come to the notice of the election authority that false posts are being circulated alleging that names of film actresses appear in the voter list with doctored photographs, modified addresses and fake EPIC numbers.
He said that strict legal action would be initiated against anyone creating or forwarding fake or misleading material influencing the election process. Citizens are advised to verify information only from official sources, he said.
Election officials had earlier ordered an investigation into the social media posts. The posts showed photographs of voter slips along with photographs of Tollywood actresses Rakul Preet Singh, Samantha and Tamannaah as voters of the Jubilee Hills constituency. Voter slips had fake EPIC numbers and addresses.
Since this was seen as an attempt to damage the reputation of the Election Commission, the authorities took it seriously and filed a police complaint after preliminary investigation.
In a related development on Thursday, the Telangana High Court dismissed a petition filed by Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) on alleged irregularities in the voter list in Jubilee Hills constituency.
The High Court took note of the fact that the Election Commission of India (ECI) had already started investigating the complaints.
A division bench of Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice GM Mohiuddin said voter registration and deletion is a continuous process. It said that ECI has time till October 21 to act on the complaints.
The court made it clear that any interference in the electoral process after the announcement of the election schedule leads to delay in holding the elections.
–IANS
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