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At least 25 foreign nationals were detained on Thursday, May 14, for illegally casting votes in the recently concluded Tamil Nadu Assembly elections despite holding foreign citizenship. The detentions were made at airports as the accused were attempting to flee the country. Most of those detained were Sri Lankan nationals, while others held British, Canadian, and Indonesian passports, according to reports. Authorities have seized the Electors Photo Identity Cards (EPICs) of the accused.
The crackdown followed intelligence inputs received by law enforcement agencies about foreign nationals engaging in electoral malpractice. Based on these inputs, airport authorities across Tamil Nadu were alerted to identify passengers bearing indelible ink marks on their index fingers — an indication that they had recently voted. Most of the detentions took place at Chennai airport, reports said.
Among those detained were Sri Lankan nationals Ranjini (59), Sarfudeen (68), Nilanthi (44), Jeyanthan (40), Charlie Balachandran (48), Chakravarthy Logapriya (50), and Sunitha Chakravarthy (48).
Officials also identified Ayyadurai (53) from the United Kingdom, Tittin Mariattu (47) from Indonesia, and Jitthendranath (38) from Canada.
One of the detainees, reportedly a person of Indian origin whose identity is yet to be verified, is alleged to have acquired British citizenship in 2015 but voted in the Pattukkottai Assembly constituency in Thanjavur district. He was intercepted at Chennai International Airport while attempting to board a flight to London, The Hindu reported.
While the first arrest was reportedly made on Tuesday, authorities are yet to officially declare the total number of detentions.
Cases have been registered against the accused under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the Representation of the People Act, 1950, and other applicable laws.
Immigration officials said retaining Indian voter ID cards after acquiring foreign citizenship is illegal.
Under Indian law, only Indian citizens are eligible to vote. Although Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) can register as overseas electors under Section 20A of the Representation of the People Act, they must continue to hold Indian citizenship and produce an original Indian passport at polling booths.
People who have acquired citizenship of another country are not eligible to vote in Indian elections.
The incident has drawn attention as it comes soon after the Election Commission of India (ECI) conducted a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Tamil Nadu ahead of the Assembly elections.
The revision exercise aimed to remove the names of deceased voters and those who had permanently relocated, while also enrolling new voters. According to official figures, around 74 lakh names were deleted from the electoral rolls, while nearly 27.5 lakh new voters were added.