Uttar Pradesh election official defends handling of 1.618 million voter applications

Uttar Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Navdeep Rinwa said on October 9 that 1.618 million voter-registration applications submitted during a roll revision were handled under Election Commission of India rules. His explanation followed a Reporters' Collective report questioning why applicants' names were not disclosed.

The dispute concerns Form 6, used to register new voters. Rinwa said each booth-level officer was required to carry 30 such forms during enumeration for people wishing to register. He maintained that accepting the applications complied with the commission's instructions.

Rinwa distinguished this group from applications filed later during the claims and objections period. Names in the later group were published. The Reporters' Collective questioned the transparency of the earlier phase, describing the additions as unexplained.

A separate dispute concerns Form 7, used to remove names from the rolls. The Reporters' Collective said commission software automatically generated 85,854 documents without specifying reasons. Rinwa responded that registration officers submitted them only after notices had been issued and voters found ineligible.

The Hindu reports that 32.6 million people received notices after publication of a draft roll containing 125.5 million voters on January 6. Of those, 10.4 million were categorized as unmapped and 22.2 million were flagged for logical discrepancies. The first notices went out on January 14, with hearings beginning on January 21.

Opposition Congress MP Pawan Khera criticized automatically generated documents without stated reasons, comparing the process to a coin toss. His accusations represent the opposition's position. Rinwa's response and the journalists' claims leave a dispute over transparency in processing applications and the grounds for deletions.