With only days remaining before the Adampur Municipal Council (MC) elections, allegations of large-scale voter list manipulation have surfaced. Several candidates are accusing the ruling party of attempting to tilt the scales through “fake votes” and suspicious eleventh-hour additions to the electoral rolls.
Contesting candidates from Ward No. 1, 5, 6 and 11 have submitted formal complaints alleging that new voters were registered using Aadhaar cards linked to outside villages. They further claim many entries feature incomplete addresses, lacking both house numbers and photographs.
Despite raising these concerns with the Adampur SDM, complainants argued that no concrete action was taken. The issue has now escalated to the State Election Commission (Punjab), with Opposition leaders demanding an immediate halt to what they describe as “illegal” additions.
Sukhwinder Singh Kotli, Congress MLA from Adampur, highlighted a breach of Election Commission norms. “New votes were to be added by April 30, with the final list published by May 5. No new votes can be registered after nomination papers are filed. Yet, we have found subsequent inclusions of voters who remain untraceable,” Kotli claimed.
Sushma Kumari, candidate from Ward No. 1
Ward No. 1 candidate Sushma Kumari alleged that the total number of voters in her ward rose from 609 during nomination filing to 631 within a few days.
Veena Chodh, candidate from Ward No. 5
Similarly, Ward No. 5 candidate Veena Chodha claimed the voter count increased from 1,054 in the final list issued on May 5 to 1,069 by May 16 to 18.
Darshan Singh Karwal, candidate from Ward No. 6
Notably, Darshan Singh Karwal, who is also the outgoing president of Adampur MC, and is contesting from Ward No. 6 alleged that voters in his ward increased from 960 on May 16 to 962 by May 21. “We have no idea on what basis and from where these new voters are included in the list,” he added.
Parminder Singh Karwal, candidate from Ward No. 11
Besides, Parminder Singh Karwal, candidate from Ward No. 11, asserted that 35 new voters had been added in his area, taking the total tally from 1,020 to 1,055.
A separate complaint was also filed against Ward No. 11 AAP candidate Harvinder Singh, alleging that his name appeared in the voter list after the final electoral roll had already been notified.
Adampur SDM-cum-Returning Officer Lal Vishwas dismissed the allegations, maintaining that all procedures were followed legally. He clarified that applications for new votes were valid if received by the final date of nomination filing. According to Vishwas, voters in question — including Harvinder Singh — had submitted their applications before the deadline, and their subsequent inclusion was merely the processing of those timely requests.
