Election Commission registers FIR against officials over voter list irregularities in Pilibhit

PILIBHIT — The Election Commission has registered a first information report against two sub-divisional magistrates and a computer operator following severe irregularities discovered in the voter list of the Sadar assembly constituency in Pilibhit.

According to official records, the accused officers are Puranpur SDM Mayank Goswami, Amaria SDM Hemant Chaudhary, and VRC computer operator Anil Kumar. Both SDMs served as Electoral Registration Officers during the Special Intensive Revision period. Following the discrepancies, the District Magistrate removed both officers from their posts on Wednesday night and attached them to the district headquarters, while the computer operator’s services were terminated. A departmental inquiry has also been initiated against the three accused.

The administrative action follows a formal complaint lodged by the Congress party with the Election Commission. Congress alleged that between July and September, names of 13,150 voters were altered while their EPIC and serial numbers remained identical. The party further claimed that 884 resident voters were removed and 2,600 non-resident voters were added improperly, affecting a total of 16,554 records in the Sadar constituency.

District Election Officer Alok Kumar stated in a press conference that between May 31 and August 29, authorities received 13,779 offline Form-8 applications for corrections in the Sadar constituency. Out of these, 10,470 applications were accepted and 3,309 were rejected.

The case was registered at the Kotwali police station based on a complaint filed by Assistant Election Officer KK Kashyap.

Authorities have ordered a comprehensive re-investigation into all 10,470 accepted Form-8 applications. Additionally, the scope of the investigation has been expanded to examine the voter lists of the Puranpur, Bisalpur, and Barkhera assembly constituencies.