‘Ram ne Yadav ko maara, B.Com’: Bizarre entries in voter list for UP MLC polls

Uttar Pradesh MLC polls saw bizarre voter list entries such as ‘Ram ne Yadav ko maara’ and ‘B.Com’ in the father’s name column, prompting a probe.

From ‘Ram ne Yadav ko maara’ and ‘Ram ne Sharma ko maara’ to ‘B.Com’, the father’s name column in the Allahabad-Jhansi graduate constituency’s voter list has thrown up bizarre entries during the Uttar Pradesh MLC polls, prompting chief electoral officer (CEO) Navdeep Rinwa to seek an explanation from officials and clarify how the errors crept into the electoral rolls.

Uttar Pradesh MLC voter list errors, including ‘Ram ne Yadav ko maara’ and ‘B.Com’ in fathers’ names, have triggered a probe and possible action against officials. (Representative photo)

Rinwa sought a report from the divisional commissioners of Jhansi and Prayagraj, who are the electoral registration officers (EROs) for the legislative council constituency in question. He said action would be taken against erring officials based on the findings of the report.

Polling was held on Friday for 11 biennial Uttar Pradesh legislative council seats, including five graduate and six teacher constituencies.

Deep Dive

Why did phrases like “Ram ne Yadav ko maara” appear in the UP MLC voter list?

How did “B.Com” end up in the father’s name column of the voter list?

Can voters with errors in their father’s names still vote in the UP MLC polls?

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District officials were directed to ensure that voters did not face any inconvenience because of errors in their fathers’ names in the voter list and were allowed to exercise their franchise.

Rinwa said online registration was introduced for the first time to add names to the electoral rolls for legislative council elections in Uttar Pradesh. The software was designed to translate names entered in English into Hindi but, in some cases, produced incorrect results.

For instance, if a voter’s name was Ramhit Yadav but it was mistakenly entered as “Ram hit Yadav”, the software translated it into “Ram ne Yadav ko maara”, the UP CEO clarified.

“The software had a provision to edit and correct such errors, but they persisted where voters failed to verify their entries. However, entering ‘B.Com’ in the father’s name column amounted to negligence, and electoral registration officers should have corrected such entries,” Rinwa said.

District election officers in the districts falling under the Allahabad-Jhansi constituency function as assistant electoral registration officers (AEROs) and are responsible for ensuring that voter lists are free of errors. The divisional commissioners have been directed to submit reports on the lapses, after which action will be taken against the officials concerned, he said.

A total of 152 candidates are in the fray for the MLC polls, for which voting began at 8 am and concluded at 4 pm across 2,697 polling stations in 72 districts. A total of 14,81,310 voters were eligible to exercise their franchise, with 12,309 polling personnel deployed across the 11 constituencies.