Voters List In Eastern Uttar Pradesh, Shows Photos Of Elephant, Deer, Pigeon And Actress Sunny Leone, Next To The Residents’ Name.

An updated voter list of Ballia district in Eastern Uttar Pradesh has come under strict scrutiny after it was leaked to the media. The voter list shows photos of elephant, deer, pigeon and actress Sunny Leone, next to the voters’ names.

Voter List Leaked

According to NDTV Uttar Pradesh government has been updating voters list before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. While the updated list has not been made public yet, two pages of the list were leaked to the media. The leaked pages show an elephant’s picture next to the name of a 56-year-old man and Bollywood actress Sunny Leone has appeared next to the name of a 51-year-old woman among many others.

According to Tribune India, a voter named Durgawati had Sunny Leone’s picture next to her name, while one, Kunwar Ankur Singh had a deer’s picture next to his name, and Kunwar Gaurav Singh had a pigeon next to his while Narad Rai, a former minister in the Mulayam Singh Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav governments, had an elephant’s image next to his name.

Data Entry Officer Is To Be Blamed

Reportedly, the updated voter’s list deadline for Balia district was July 15. For the voter’s list, the booth level officers appointed by the district administration is responsible for collecting and submitting the names and required data. The data entry operator will then enter and match the given data online. The clearance of the final list is done by the senior officers after cross-checking all the paperwork. It was during this cross-checking that the disastrous errors were discovered. It was reported to the Election Commission, and the errors were rectified.

The blame for this error was put on the shoulders of a data entry officer, who reportedly tampered with the data following a spat with a clerk. In response to a local journalist’s inquiry, the Balia district administration senior officer, Manoj Kumar Singhal released a statement in which he said, “During the initial probe, it came to light that the data entry operator Vishnu Verma fought with the local lekhpal. After this, he was removed. Angered over this, Verma had tampered the voter list”.
According to Tribune India, an FIR has been lodged against Vishnu Verma at Balia Kotwali police station.

Also Read: Good To Know: How To Apply For Voter Id Online?