10,470 voters’ names changed in one Uttar Pradesh seat, FIR against officers

Why in the News

The electoral roll of Uttar Pradesh’s Pilibhit Assembly constituency, declared final after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), was later altered through 10,470 correction entries that the State’s own inquiry has found irregular. The Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Uttar Pradesh has ordered legal action, and a First Information Report (FIR) names two Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs) and a computer assistant.

How was a final voter list changed?

1. What Form 8 is: Form 8 is the application to correct a voter’s entry in the electoral roll, such as a misspelt name. It is like asking a bank to fix an account name.
2. The safeguard: Each correction needs a physical form and supporting records, and officials must follow standard operating procedures (SOPs) for claims and objections.
3. What went wrong: Form 8 “corrections” were filed between May 31 and August 29, yet the office held no physical forms or supporting records for them.
4. Fictitious names: Every approved correction was irregular. Online checks of Elector Photo Identity Card (EPIC) numbers showed voters’ and fathers’ names replaced by fictitious ones.
5. The takeaway: A voter can stay on the roll and still lose the vote, because a name that does not match can be rejected at the booth.

What action has been taken?

1. FIR: The Assistant District Election Officer filed it in Pilibhit. It charges breach of official duty over electoral rolls and framing an incorrect electronic record “with the intention of causing injury”.
2. Disciplinary steps: The computer assistant’s services at the Voter Registration Centre were terminated, and departmental proceedings were ordered against both AEROs.
3. Procedure ignored: The FIR says the SOPs were not followed, and both offline and online records of the forms were missing.
4. Wider scrutiny: The CEO has ordered a check of all Form 6 additions and Form 7 deletions between April 10 and October 21, with a report due by Friday. All irregular entries are being corrected.

How did it surface, and what do parties allege?

1. Voter complaints: An advocate found fictitious names in place of his own and his brother’s against their EPIC numbers, though election officials had verified his documents. A Samajwadi Party (SP) memorandum also flagged Pilibhit.
2. Booth-by-booth check: A Congress team checked 3.48 lakh voters and found 13,150 entries with discrepancies, mostly made late at night or on holidays.
3. Community allegation: The Congress and the SP allege that most altered entries belong to Muslims, who are roughly a quarter of Pilibhit district (Census 2011).
4. Political stakes: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the Pilibhit seat in 2022 by fewer than 7,000 votes, and Assembly elections are months away.
5. Party responses: The SP will check rolls in about 100 constituencies. The BJP says parties should scrutinise rolls during revision, not blame the Election Commission of India (ECI) later.

Challenges

1. Insider access: Officials approved corrections with no paper trail, so the roll was only as safe as its operators.
2. Detection by chance: The advocate found the edits by chance, after overhearing a computer operator talking to a voter, not through any official check.
3. Trust in revision: Edits after an SIR undercut the claim that the revision produced a clean roll.

Way Forward

1. Edit log: The ECI should log the official, time and scanned form behind every correction, and block any edit without a form.
2. Voter alert: Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) should notify the registered voter before a correction to the voter’s entry takes effect.
3. Statewide audit: The CEO should extend the scrutiny of post-roll edits to other constituencies, and restore affected voters in person, before the polls.

Conclusion

Pilibhit shows that a roll declared final after a full revision can still be rewritten from inside the system. What to watch is the district report on additions and deletions, and whether affected voters are restored before Uttar Pradesh votes.

Key numbers

1. Form 8 applications in Pilibhit: 13,779 filed.
2. By officer’s tenure: 4,717 forms under the first AERO and 9,062 after his successor took charge on July 17.
3. Pilibhit Lok Sabha seat (2024): Won by the BJP by over 1 lakh votes.

Back2Basics: Electoral Registration Officer (ERO)

1. Legal basis: Section 13B of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 provides an ERO for every Assembly constituency.
2. Role: The ERO prepares and revises the constituency’s electoral roll and decides claims and objections.
3. Assistants: AEROs assist the ERO in this work.
4. Hierarchy: EROs work under the District Election Officer and the State’s Chief Electoral Officer.

Matching Previous Year Question

“[2026, GS2, 10 marks] Is the right to vote a fundamental right? Discuss the position of the Election Commission of India while undertaking the revision of electoral rolls. Can it also examine the question of citizenship of voters?”