'Ram hit Yadav': Bizarre name entries in UP voter list
What's the story
The Uttar Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer's office has clarified the bizarre names in the voter list ahead of polling for 11 MLC seats. The office said that a technical glitch had occurred while converting names from English to Hindi after an online registration facility was introduced. This error affected 158 out of 1,481,310 entries, resulting in unusual or incorrect names for voters and their relatives like 'Ram ne Yadav ko maara' and 'Ram ne Sharma ko maara.'
Error explanation
Software issue leads to literal translations
The software was supposed to transliterate names from English to Hindi, but it translated them literally in some cases.
For instance, if "Ramhit Yadav" was inadvertently entered as "Ram hit Yadav," the software translated it as "Ram Ne Yadav Ko Mara."
Apart from this, an entry showing "B.Com" in place of a voter's father's name was also flagged.
This appearance of "B.Com" in the father's name field was attributed to human error or negligence.
Administrative response
Administration seeks explanation over errors
The administration admitted there was a mechanism to edit and correct such errors. However, due to lack of due diligence at relevant levels, some mistakes remained in the electoral roll.
The UP administration has sought an explanation from concerned officials over these discrepancies.
The UP CEO's office has also clarified that necessary instructions have been issued to District Magistrates to ensure no voter faces inconvenience due to these errors.
Legal consequences
Legal action against electoral registration officers
The errors were reported in the Allahabad-Jhansi graduates' constituency.
The Uttar Pradesh election authorities have also initiated legal action against two serving and former electoral registration officers and fired a computer assistant after irregularities were found in 10,470 voter entries in the Pilibhit Assembly constituency.
The Chief Electoral Officer's office confirmed that no application forms or supporting records were found for these entries.