New Delhi: The Election Commission has ordered the suspension of two electoral registration officers (EROs) in Uttar Pradesh and a statewide scrutiny of voter lists following the detection of 10,470 irregular entries in the Pilibhit Assembly constituency.
The action follows an inquiry which found that a computer operator had entered 13,779 Form-8 applications for changes in voter details between May 31 and August 29.
Of these, 10,470 were approved and 3,309 rejected, although no application forms or supporting documents were found in the office.
In a letter to Uttar Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Navdeep Rinwa, the Commission directed the immediate suspension of EROs Mayank Goswami and Hemant Chaudhary.
It also ordered that they should not be reinstated without its approval.
The EC directed that Section 198 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, dealing with disobedience of law by a public servant, be added to the FIR against the two officers and computer operator Anil Kumar.
The controversy erupted after the Congress and Samajwadi Party alleged large-scale manipulation of electoral rolls.
The Commission also ordered a statewide review of voter lists, particularly additions, deletions and corrections made through Forms 6, 7 and 8.
The state’s CEO has directed the deactivation of ECINET login IDs issued to computer operators at voter registration centres across Uttar Pradesh.
The outsourcing firm was also directed to terminate the services of the operator allegedly involved in the Pilibhit case.
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