Panchkula, May 8 -- After Congress alleged the presence of over 8,500 duplicate voters in the electoral roll for the Panchkula municipal corporation (MC) elections scheduled for May 10, Haryana state election commissioner Devinder Singh Kalyan on Thursday directed the Panchkul deputy commissioner (DC), Satpal Sharma, to re-verify the entries to ensure a free and fair election. Kalyan said that the commission is committed to ensuring free, fair and transparent elections. Referring to a memorandum submitted by Congress representatives on May 6, Kalyan said the party had highlighted 17,086 voter entries in the Panchkula MC electoral roll, claiming them to be duplicate and/or identical. However, he clarified that while the memorandum mentioned around 17,000 entries, a list containing only 8,543 such voters was actually submitted. He said that although the memorandum was submitted beyond the prescribed deadline, especially when political parties had the opportunity to file claims, objections or appeals within the stipulated period, the commission had still taken cognisance of the matter to maintain the sanctity of the electoral rolls. Kalyan said he has directed the DC to re-verify the entries. "After scrutinising the 8,543 entries, the DC will submit a fact-finding report after examining the claims made in the memorandum," Kalyan said. He maintained that due diligence and sincere efforts were made during the preparation of the electoral roll. He also asserted that the entire process leading to the final publication of the electoral roll is conducted under the supervision of the DC and political parties have no role in adding or recording entries in the voter list, except for submitting claims, objections and appeals....