Lucknow: Days after 158 bizarre entries surfaced in the electoral rolls of Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council’s Graduates’ and Teachers’ constituencies, another discrepancy has emerged in Azamgarh, where 13 entries in an Assembly constituency’s voter list carried the name Vikas Yadav in Hindi, despite belonging to different individuals, including women.An investigation has revealed that the discrepancies occurred during the processing of Form 6 applications submitted in Jan 2026, following the publication of the draft electoral roll under Special Intensive Revision (SIR) on Jan 6.Taking note of the irregularities, Uttar Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Navdeep Rinwa on Saturday ordered action against nine election personnel, including five booth-level officers (BLOs), a computer assistant and three supervisory officers.The investigation followed allegations raised by Samajwadi Party at a news conference on Oct 15, claiming that the name Vikas Yadav appeared 10 times in the electoral roll of Assembly constituency 347-Azamgarh. However, the district election officer’s investigation identified 13 such entries.According to official sources, the discrepancies appear to have originated during the claims and objections period following the publication of the SIR draft roll on Jan 6.Sources said several applicants had submitted Form 6 applications both before and after Jan 6, possibly fearing that their names had been omitted from the draft electoral roll.However, applications submitted between Oct 27, 2025, and Jan 5, 2026, were not meant to be reflected in the Jan 6 draft roll. These applications were to be processed for inclusion in the final SIR electoral roll, which was published on April 10.The investigation found that three applications associated with the Vikas Yadav discrepancy were received on Jan 28. Of these, one genuinely belonged to Vikas Yadav, whose details were correctly recorded. However, another applicant, Vinod Yadav, was listed as Vikas Yadav in both Hindi and English. Similarly, a woman applicant, Indu Devi, was also recorded as Vikas Yadav in both languages.Two more applications were received on Jan 30. One belonged to Abhay Pratap Singh, whose name appeared as Vikas Singh in English but as Vikas Yadav in Hindi. A similar discrepancy was found in the application of Veer Bahadur Singh.The largest cluster emerged on Jan 31, when six applications containing discrepancies were received. Mamta Srivastava, Guddiya, Neha Chaurasiya, Nandani Gond, Nidhi and Ayushman Srivastava were recorded as Vikas Yadav in both languages or in one of them.According to official sources, the erroneous entries were spread across five polling booths, suggesting that the discrepancies were not confined to a single booth.“Since the discrepancies have appeared across five different booths, it does not appear to be an intentional act. However, there is clear negligence in the verification and processing of applications,” an official source said.Of the 13 entries identified during the investigation, two had already been deleted. The remaining 11 belonged to different individuals residing in separate villages in Azamgarh. Only one was the genuine Vikas Yadav. Form 8 applications have now been obtained to correct the names and other particulars of the remaining 10 voters.Investigators also identified another voter with the same name and father’s name in Gorakhpur’s Chauri Chaura Assembly constituency. However, this voter was separate from the 13 entries in Azamgarh, and the report did not identify the Gorakhpur entry as fraudulent.Speaking to TOI, Rinwa said the discrepancies involved different individuals, including women, whose photographs, ages and genders were correctly recorded, even though their names had been entered incorrectly.“The genuine Vikas Yadav submitted only one application. The remaining entries belonged to different voters,” Rinwa said.The CEO said five BLOs, a computer assistant, two assistant electoral registration officers and the then electoral registration officer were involved at different stages of verification and approval.“Unlike the Pilibhit case, which involved intentional criminal wrongdoing, we have not established any such intention here. It could be negligence or mischief by an individual. Further investigation is necessary,” Rinwa told TOI.The CEO ordered the immediate removal of the five BLOs and the computer assistant from electoral roll duties and directed that notices proposing the termination of their services be issued.Notices seeking explanations before the initiation of proceedings under Section 32 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, have also been ordered against the personnel concerned.The Azamgarh district election officer has also been directed to scrutinise electoral rolls across all Assembly constituencies in the district and submit a report within a week.
