Jairam Ramesh says the Election Commission, not software, must answer for flawed voter lists

Congress MP Jairam Ramesh on Saturday accused the Election Commission of hiding behind its software as errors in Uttar Pradesh’s voter lists came to light.

Ramesh was responding to an election officer’s explanation that a software fault was to blame for odd entries on the rolls for Friday’s Legislative Council elections. Among the names he highlighted were “Ram Ne Yadav Ko Mara” and “Murkh Chandra Yadav”.

“The Election Commission is trying to deflect the blame for a premeditated conspiracy,” Ramesh wrote on X. “Has the integrity of India’s democracy and the voter list been left entirely to the mercy of software and ECINET?” ECINET is the Commission’s new digital platform for election services.

“The responsibility lies with the Election Commission, not the software,” he said, alleging that the errors were part of a conspiracy to help the BJP.

Pilibhit and the SIR

Ramesh said details of 10,470 voters in Pilibhit had been changed through Form 8, the form used to correct or shift entries, without records to support the changes. He said most of the affected voters belong to one community.

He also listed problems since the special intensive revision (SIR) of the rolls: names missing, and wrong details turning up when voters search by their EPIC number. The Commission has still not given Congress and Rahul Gandhi the machine-readable voter data they asked for, he said.

“The very SIR, whose declared objective was to purify the voter lists, has instead cast doubts on their reliability,” Ramesh said. “Our clear demand is that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar resign immediately.”

The Election Commission had not responded by Saturday afternoon. Votes for the Allahabad-Jhansi Division Graduates’ seat and the Gorakhpur-Faizabad Division Teachers’ seat will be counted on 27 October.