Three-member committee to probe name repetition on voters’ list in GB Nagar

The Samajwadi Party alleged in a press conference on Monday that names of voters from the Palm Olympia residential society in Greater Noida West were repeated

The district administration has constituted a three-member committee, comprising a city magistrate, the deputy collector and a supervisor, to probe the repetition of names in voters’ lists.

Samajwadi Party leaders at a press conference in Noida on Monday. (Sunil Ghosh/HT Photo)

The action comes against the backdrop of the Samajwadi Party alleging, in a press conference in Noida on Monday, that names of voters from the Palm Olympia residential society in Greater Noida West were repeated in the list.

Gautam Budh Nagar district magistrate and chief electoral officer Manish Kumar Verma said: “People tend to keep applying for voter cards until they get it and there are chances that the booth level officer may have approved multiple applications by a single voter. A committee has been formed to probe the incident thoroughly.”

Additional district magistrate (finance and revenue) Atul Kumar said, “A three-member committee, including additional district magistrate (law and order) Bachoo Singh and city magistrate Dharmendra Singh, has been formed and the allegations are being looked into.”

Of the 1,789 registered voters from Palm Olympia society, there were at least 104 instances of names repeating twice or thrice, SP Noida Mahanagar president Ashray Gupta claimed.

Gupta said on Wednesday: “We shared the list with media as well. The administration is now saying a committee has been appointed to investigate the anomalies in the incident.”

SP’s Gautam Budh Nagar candidate Mahendra Nagar rapped the district administration, questioning the fairness of the polls.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) youth wing (Uttar Pradesh) president Pankaj Awana said, “The final voters’ list has just been released and laxities have come up. It is for sure that this is not the only society with repetition of names. There could be more but there is not enough time to thoroughly verify this.”

A similar incident was reported from Parsvnath Srishti in Sector 93A on Monday, after which its residents’ welfare association wrote to the district magistrate alleging that except for five people, none of the people listed under the society address resided there.

The district administration officials, however, denied the claims and said that there was a “misunderstanding” among residents.