How many times has she voted, Rahul asked about the voter who has more than 200 photos on the rolls; Once you say | Political Pulse News

The Indian Express visited the village, which suddenly found itself in the limelight after Gandhi’s press conference, and found that Charanjeet’s photo appears alongside the names of at least 255 voters at booth No. 63 and 65 in Dhakula village, which has a total of 2,117 registered voters. But for many of the 255 people, this is not breaking news.

The Indian Express tracked down 17 people and found that the problem had been around for at least a decade, that they had reported it to the authorities, and that they had voted.

Lakhmir Singh (71), a farmer from Dhakola, said that the voter ID cards owned by him and his family members contain the correct photos, but in the voter list, Charanjit’s photo appears instead of his photo and that of 10 other family members.

“Every time I go to cast my vote — whether it is for the MLA, MP or village sarpanch — the election officials say my photo is not on the voter list,” Lakhmir said. “Then I show them my voter ID card, which has my photograph. I also show them my Aadhaar card and driving license to prove that I am a real voter.”

Charanjit’s photo is also listed alongside Lakmir’s two brothers, Lakminder Singh and Sukhvinder Singh, and other family members: Ranjit Singh, Karamjit Kaur, Swaran Kaur, Gurvinder Kaur, Surjit Kaur, Kamaljit Singh, Paramjit, and Jasjit Singh. Seven of the 11 family members voted in the 2024 council elections, Lakhmir said.

Tejinder Singh, a resident of the village, said that he and three of his family members faced the same problem. “In 2022, when we went to vote in the village sarpanch elections, polling agents and election staff objected, saying that our photos did not match the voter list. We had to put in a lot of effort to vote,” he said, adding that three of the four family members voted in the 2024 Assembly elections.

Jyoti Ram (74) and his daughter-in-law Roma Devi also found Charanjeet’s photo instead of their photo in the voter list. “The election staff knows us, so we don’t face much trouble in casting our votes even though Charanjit Kaur’s picture appears next to our names. Even for the election staff, it is difficult to raise objections when nearly 250 voters are on the same issue,” said Jyoti, who runs a fruit cart. They both voted in the 2024 Assembly elections.

At her house, Charanjit Kaur is aware of the situation. “Whenever I go to vote, the election workers, the police on duty, and the polling agents laugh.”

“I tell everyone that it is not my fault that my picture is shown to a large number of voters. I also tell them that it should be fixed. But it is not fixed yet,” said Charanjeet, who studied up to Class 5.

Her daughter-in-law, Gurmeet Kaur, contested the 2022 village sarpanch elections, but lost.

Devinder Singh, Sonia Devi’s husband, claimed that the issue was the result of a “publication error, nothing else”.

“This has been happening for years and has not been corrected despite local officials knowing,” he said. “If there was fake voting, why did Congress get a lead of around 150 votes from our village in the October 2024 Assembly elections for Maulana constituency?” He said.

In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Congress member Varun Chaudhary won, followed by his wife Pooja Chaudhary’s victory in the Assembly elections later that year. On the issue of Charanjit Kaur’s image being seen by many voters, Varun said: “It is wrong to have a voters’ list like this. What does it say about the work of the Election Commission? The EC must now work to restore the confidence of voters in Haryana.”

Lakhmir Singh’s son Ranjit Singh, whose family includes 11 members affected by the photo mismatch, said they staged a dharna before the Block Development and Panchayat Officer (BDPO) ahead of the 2022 panchayat elections, demanding that the issue be fixed. “But nothing happened,” he added.

“Only former officials can explain how this mistake happened. But now I will visit every house, verify their documents, and submit their cases to the election department to resolve the photo issue as soon as possible,” said Booth Officer (BLO) Arvind Agarwal, who took charge just a month ago.

Village resident Gurdeep Singh, whose mother Karamjit Kaur served as village leader from 2005 to 2009, said that during that period, the voters list displayed the correct photographs of voters. Rajeev Kharbanda, a government school teacher who supervises seven election booths – including two in Dakula village – said he was put in charge two months ago and was unaware of the previous records.

An official source in the election department claimed that a complaint was received before the 2022 panchayat elections, prompting the correction of some photographs of voters. He added, “Such technical problems occur when a PDF file is sent to publish the voter list and the file is destroyed.”

“We are conducting an investigation into the entire matter. We will update the photos of all eligible voters who will fill Form 8 to update the photo,” said Barara (Ambala) Sub-District Magistrate Satinder Siwatch, who is the Election Registrar. Officials said the issue can also be resolved online through the National Voter Services Portal (NVSP).

Haryana Chief Electoral Officer A. Srinivas, the matter will be examined carefully.

More women with Brazilian citizen photo

At the press conference on Wednesday, Gandhi also said that in Rai area of ​​Sonipat district, a stock photo of a Brazilian citizen was used to cast his vote 22 times in 10 booths. “She has multiple names – Seema, Sweety, Saraswati, Rashmi, Vimla,” he said.

The Indian Express tracked down four of the women on Wednesday, all of whom said they had no knowledge of the issue and voted without incident. On Thursday, Express spoke to five other women, at least three of whom voted.

In Akbarpur Barota village, Bimla Devi’s 57-year-old son, Sunil, said she had a colored voter card from 2017, with her photo on it, which she used to cast her vote.

Poonam (29), also from Barota, left the village after a falling out with her husband Sonu two years ago. “But she is not a fake voter. She voted from here,” Sonu said, showing an electronic copy of her voter ID card on his phone.

Anju, 54, another resident, said she voted in the 2024 elections without any problem. She has a voter ID card with her photo from 2012.

Saroj (37 years old) said that she moved from Rai to Bhiwani after her marriage seven years ago, and did not vote in last year’s elections. But she said she is a “real voter.”

Sunita (32), a resident of Kundli village, said she had cast her vote in 2024 and was not aware of any photo mismatch in the voter list.