Heads roll over Uttar Pradesh electoral roll lapses, two officers removed from duty

The Election Commission of India has removed two electoral registration officers (ERO) and terminated the services of a computer operator in Pilibhit after some errors were detected in the new electoral rolls.

The Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee had registered a complaint with the EC alleging that the details of 13,150 voters were changed a few weeks after the final draft of the electoral rolls was published following the SIR.

Rajendra Pal Gautam, the state in-charge of the Congress, said: “The final draft was released on April 10. This was an assurance to voters that their serial numbers, names, spellings of names, addresses and EPIC numbers were correct. But 13,150 voters of the Pilibhit Sadar Assembly segment discovered after a few weeks that while their EPIC and serial numbers were the same, their names had been changed. There were 800 voters whose names were removed from the list even though they had submitted all the required documents. Also, 2,600 voters who didn’t live at the given address were added to the list.”

Alok Kumar, the chief electoral officer of Pilibhit, told reporters: “We are in the process of correcting the electoral roll. Two EROs (of the rank of sub-divisional magistrate) have been removed from their assignments.... The job of a computer operator has been terminated.”

A department inquiry has also been ordered against the two EROs, Mayank Goswami and Hemant Chaudhary. The computer operator has been identified as Anil Kumar.