UP CEO’s office apologises over caste bias remarks on voter slip errors

Uttar Pradesh’s Chief Electoral Officer’s (CEO) office issued an apology on Tuesday over remarks made in response to allegations of caste bias linked to errors in voter slips.

“The tone and tenor and the acerbic nature of the comments in the quoted post of this handle is not in line with the nature of communication expected from this official handle. The genuine outrage generated by the comments in the post has been well noted,” stated a post from the official X handle of the CEO’s office.

“We offer our sincere apologies to the persons shocked and offended by it. Our communication henceforth will be decorous and formal,” it added.

AAP leader flags errors in voter slips

The apology followed Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh’s allegations that voter slips contained bizarre entries, including “Ram ne Yadav ko maara” (Ram killed Yadav). He also cited a record in which the father of “Narendra Yadav” was listed as “B. Com.,” while “Mohammad Iqbal Beg” appeared as “Mohammad Iqbal bheekh maangte hain”.

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The CEO’s office responded to Singh’s claims with remarks that drew criticism.

Poll body faces backlash over caste bias remarks

“In the voter list for the recent Legislative Council elections, there is also a bizarre name: 'Ram ne Sharma ko mara." Computers/software are not casteist. It is acceptable that we made a mistake, but fortunately, even during the mistake, there was no discrimination based on caste. We must also thank God that Ram did not kill any minority. Otherwise, in addition to being casteist, there would also be an accusation of being communal," the poll body wrote on X.

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Singh also accused Uttar Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Navdeep Rinwa of acting as a “BJP agent” over the errors and the response from the poll body.

Sanjay Singh calls for action against CEO

“The Election Commission's remark that 'the software is not casteist,' and the comment that 'thankfully, Ram did not kill any member of a minority community, otherwise there would have been accusations of communalism', proves that an agent of the BJP is occupying a constitutional position. With such an official in place, fair elections are not possible in Uttar Pradesh; strict action must be taken against him,” Singh said at a press conference in Lucknow, reported the Hindustan Times.