Uttar Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer orders scrutiny of voter forms following data discrepancies

LUCKNOW — Uttar Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Navdeep Rinwa has ordered a comprehensive scrutiny of all voter registration and modification forms entered by computer assistants following severe electoral roll discrepancies detected in Pilibhit and Azamgarh.

Under the fresh administrative directives, authorities must examine all Forms 6, 7, and 8 processed by computer assistants since April 10, when the Special Intensive Revision concluded. The sweep aims to ensure the integrity of electoral rolls ahead of the forthcoming Special Summary Revision, tightening oversight after data entry failures exposed vulnerabilities in the state’s voter database.

The crackdown follows the discovery of 10,470 irregular entries in the Pilibhit Sadar assembly constituency, where distinct names were allegedly mapped to the same EPIC voter identity number. In a separate incident in Azamgarh, electoral authorities found 13 identical entries bearing the name Vikas Yadav within the rolls of the 347-Azamgarh constituency.

Consequently, the Chief Electoral Officer ordered legal action against two Electoral Registration Officers and terminated the services of a computer assistant stationed at the Pilibhit constituency’s Voter Registration Centre.

To prevent future discrepancies, the office has restricted computer assistants from directly entering physical application forms. Moving forward, all physical submissions must be digitised exclusively by Booth Level Officers utilising the official BLO App.

Additionally, the poll panel pulled up the District Election Officers of Bulandshahr, Sitapur, Ghaziabad, and Aligarh for failing to submit timely inquiry reports regarding duplicate voter complaints previously circulated on social media.