Hyderabad, May 15: Immigration officials have arrested 10 foreign nationals for allegedly voting in the recent Tamil Nadu Assembly elections despite holding foreign passports.
The arrests were made at Chennai and Madurai airports when the individuals were preparing to travel abroad, officials said.
During verification, immigration officers noticed indelible ink marks on the index fingers of the passengers, raising suspicion that they had voted in the elections.
Further inquiry reportedly revealed that the individuals possessed foreign passports along with Indian voter identity cards.
Officials identified the detained persons as nationals of Sri Lanka, Britain, Canada and Indonesia.
Those named in the case include Ranjani, Sarfuddin, Nilanthi, Jayanthan, Charlie Balachandran, Chakravarthy Lokapriya and Sunitha Chakravarthy from Sri Lanka, Ayyadurai from Britain, Titin Mariyati from Indonesia and Jitendranath from Canada.
Authorities said holding a foreign passport while using an Indian voter ID is illegal under Indian law.
Investigators are now examining how the voter identity cards were issued and whether there was any lapse during voter list verification.
Before the elections, officials had conducted a voter list revision exercise in Tamil Nadu and reportedly removed nearly 74 lakh names, including deceased and shifted voters.
The incident has now raised questions over the accuracy of voter verification during the electoral revision process. Investigation is underway.
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