Full Breakdown
Uttar Pradesh Election Office Apologises After Sarcastic Social-Media Reply to Voter-Roll Errors
By Drooid · · How we work
In this breakdown
01
The Controversy Over Erroneous Voter Entries
A series of unusual entries appeared in the voter list for the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council elections. The name entered as “Ramhit Yadav” was rendered in Hindi as “Ram ne Yadav ko Maara” (literally “Ram hit Yadav”). A similar mistake listed a voter’s father as “Ram ne Sharma ko Maara”. Another entry changed “Mohammad Iqbal Beg” to “Mohammad Iqbal bheekh maangte hain”. The Uttar Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer (Chief Electoral Officer’s (CEO)) office identified 158 such “bizarre” entries out of more than 14.81 lakh total records.
02
Background: New Online Registration and Software Transliteration
The Legislative Council elections were the first in the state to use online registration for voter rolls. The software employed is intended to transliterate English-language names into Hindi. In some cases, however, it translated the words instead of transliterating them, turning “Ram Hit Yadav” into the sentence-like Hindi phrase “Ram ne Yadav ko Maara”. The CEO’s office said the editing feature can correct such errors, but some remained in the final list.
Visual evidence
Images from the story
03
Timeline
- October 26, 2026 – Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh posted on X in Hindi, questioning whether the software was “casteist” and asking why “Ram hit only a Yadav”.
- October 27, 2026 – The Uttar Pradesh CEO office issued an apology on X for the tone and language of its earlier sarcastic reply, acknowledging the outrage and promising future communications to be “polite and formal”.
04
Data & Statistics
- 158 voter-list entries contained anomalous names.
- The total number of entries processed for the graduate-constituency Legislative Council election was 14.81 lakh.
05
Official Statements & Responses
The CEO’s official X post on October 27, 2026 stated that the language, tone and “sharp nature” of the earlier comment were not appropriate for an official handle and that the genuine outrage had been noted. It pledged that future communications would be “polite and formal”.
In a separate explanation, the CEO clarified that the software was designed to transliterate names but sometimes translated them, producing the erroneous Hindi phrases. The Election Commission of India was reported to have instructed officials to limit statements to factual content and to use restrained language.
06
Criticism & Opposition
Sanjay Singh characterised the CEO’s reply as “communal” and “petty”, demanding a press conference and accusing the office of bias. He also highlighted additional suspect entries, such as the alteration of “Mohammad Iqbal Beg”.
Congress working-committee member Supriya Shrinate questioned who operated the CEO’s X handle and warned that the office’s credibility was eroding.
07
Verbatim Quotes
- “Gyanesh Kumar, why did Ram hit only a Yadav? Why did Ram not hit any Singh, Pathak, Asthana, Sharma, Rai or Bisht? Is your computer casteist? Are you running the agenda of any political party?” — Sanjay Singh, the UP CEO's official X handle
- “The name of 'Mohammad Iqbal Beg' has been recorded as 'Mohammad Iqbal bheekh maangte hain',” — Sanjay Singh, the UP CEO's official X handle
- “The person responsible for the forgery will be dealt with as per law,” — Navdeep Rinwa, uttar pradesh CEO
- “From now on, our communication will be polite and formal,” — Navdeep Rinwa, uttar pradesh CEO