The Maharashtra government on Thursday directed officials to “stand and greet” elected representatives when they arrive in the office and avoid “discourteous or disrespectful” conduct, reported The Indian Express. In detailed guidelines issued to government officials
Did Election Commission Ignore Key Tool Required To Weed Out Duplicate Voters?
Did Election Commission Ignore Key Tool Required To Weed Out Duplicate Voters? Report Says…
Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday claimed that over 25 lakh votes were “stolen” in the 2024 Haryana Assembly elections, alleging the presence of 5.21 lakh duplicate entries.
A day after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleged large-scale duplication in the Haryana voter list, questions have emerged over whether the Election Commission (EC) failed to fully utilise one of its own key verification systems in recent years. While Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar has maintained that SIR is being held to remove duplicate voters and update the voter list, the opposition has been up in arms against the poll body.
Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday claimed that over 25 lakh votes were “stolen” in the 2024 Haryana Assembly elections, alleging the presence of 5.21 lakh duplicate entries. He said that in several cases, the same photograph appeared against multiple voter names, and even alleged that one photo matched that of a Brazilian model circulating online.
While duplication in voter rolls has been a known challenge, the EC has traditionally tasked states with removing such entries during the annual Special Summary Revision (SSR). The ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR)—ordered on June 24—was also meant to focus specifically on cleaning up duplicate or invalid records.
Add Zee News as a Preferred Source
However, according to a report in The Indian Express, a critical tool designed to help identify such entries has not been used for the last two years.
The software in question, developed by the Centre for Development and Advanced Computing (C-DAC), was built to detect “photo-similar entries” (PSE) and “demographically similar entries” (DSE)—essentially catching voters who might be registered more than once under different details.
Officials told The Indian Express that the deduplication tool was last deployed during the 2022 Special Summary Revision. During that revision, the effort led to an unusual decrease in the total number of voters nationwide, with about 3 crore duplicate or invalid records removed, the report noted.
The system worked by flagging suspicious entries for ground verification by Electoral Registration Officers. But senior EC officials, quoted by The Indian Express, said the tool's accuracy was affected by the variable quality of photographs in the voter database—making matching and detection inconsistent in many regions.
The renewed attention on the software now comes at a time when political parties are trading allegations about voter list manipulation. While the EC has maintained that the ongoing SIR aims to clean rolls thoroughly, critics argue that the deduplication mechanism needs to be reinstated and strengthened to ensure transparency.
Source: ZeeNews
Related Posts: Current govt formed through 'stolen votes' BJP moves EC against Rahul Gandhi over PM Modi ‘can dance for votes’ remark Air Pollution Claimed Over 17 Lakh Lives In India In 2022 Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to address 15 poll rallies in all Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi owe Bihar apology for Revanth Reddy invite, says Dharmendra Pradhan How returning stolen artifacts can distort history rather than serve cultural justice Egyptians outraged after ancient pharaoh’s bracelet was stolen from Cairo museum and melted down Fitzpatrick helped by 'stolen ball' at BMW PGA Personal data potentially stolen in Asahi cyber-attack Egyptians outraged after ancient pharaoh’s bracelet was stolen from Cairo museum and melted down
The Maharashtra government on Thursday directed officials to “stand and greet” elected representatives when they arrive in the office and avoid “discourteous or disrespectful” conduct, reported The Indian Express. In detailed guidelines issued to government officials
3 months ago
