Banaskanatha district collector today ordered a probe into alleged issuance of voters identity cards in the name of non-existent persons by the mamaltdar office in Palanpur tehsil.
Collector Dilip Rana said he had directed the additional collector S K Rathod to probe the matter.
The matter came to light when a booth level officer at Godh village found bogus names in the list of voter ID cards.
Dinesh Patel, a teacher who also works as booth officer during the polls, had received a list of the recipients of the voter identity cards.
"In place of 23 forms we had sent to the Mamlatdar office for ID cards, there were 31 names in the list. On suspicion, I immediately brought the matter to the notice of sarpanch Dineshsinh Dabhi," Patel said.
"These eight (additional) persons had never lived in our village nor had we ever heard their names," he said.
Similar incident was also reported in Nandotra village of Vadgam tehsil.
