'Unusual' Names, Details Crop Up In Electoral Roll For MLC Polls In UP; EC Cites Software Error

Entries such as "Ram ne Yadav ko maara", "Ram ne Sharma ko maara" as names and "B.Com" in place of a voter's father's name have surfaced in the electoral roll for the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council elections, prompting the Election Commission (EC) to issue a clarification over the discrepancies.

The discrepancies were found in the Allahabad-Jhansi graduates' constituency ahead of polling for 11 MLC seats on Friday.

A list of discrepancies in the electoral roll was shared on various social media platforms, prompting a response from the poll panel.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Navdeep Rinwa on Thursday acknowledged the errors, saying 158 entries out of 14.81 lakh names across the electoral rolls for the 11 constituencies contained details that appeared "unusual".

He said the errors accounted for a very small proportion of the electorate and were linked, in several cases, to translation of names by a software introduced for online preparation of electoral rolls.

For the first time in Uttar Pradesh, the process of preparing electoral rolls for graduate and teachers' constituencies was carried out digitally, replacing the earlier system of manual preparation at district level.

The platform, developed by the election office's IT team in about four months, covers voter registration, application processing, approval and rejection, duplicate checks, serialisation and downloading of electoral rolls.

Rinwa said the software was designed to transliterate names entered in English into Hindi. However, in some cases, it translated the words instead, resulting in incorrect entries.

For instance, if "Ramhit Yadav" was mistakenly typed as "Ram hit Yadav", the software could have translated it into Hindi as "Ram ne Yadav ko maara".

He said the errors could have been corrected through the editing option, but some remained in the final list.

However, an entry showing "B.Com" as a father's name appears to be human error or negligence, Rinwa said.

Following complaints from political parties and circulation of lists of various discrepancies on social media, Rinwa ordered an inquiry into the cases. The probe, conducted by Jhansi Divisional Commissioner Vimal Kumar Dubey, confirmed errors in the electoral roll.

Rinwa has directed district authorities to ensure that no eligible voter is denied the right to vote because of clerical or printing errors. Presiding officers have been instructed to verify necessary documents and allow eligible voters to cast their ballots. District magistrates will be held responsible if anyone is turned away for such reasons.

Polling for five graduate and six teachers' constituencies is being held from 8 am to 4 pm Friday. More than 14.81 lakh voters are eligible to cast their ballots at 2,697 polling stations across 72 districts. As many as 152 candidates are in the fray.