The Uttar Pradesh CEO office apologised Tuesday for a controversial social media post regarding voter roll errors. The office admitted its tone was inappropriate after facing backlash for a sarcastic reply to opposition leaders. They promised, "From now on, our communication will be dignified and formal," following the online dispute.

The office, in a post on X, said the language and tone of its response to criticism over a voter roll error were not appropriate for an official handle

The office of the Uttar Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Tuesday apologised for its social media post over an erroneous entry in the Legislative Council electoral roll, acknowledging that its language was not in keeping with the communication expected from an official account.

In a post on X, it said, "The language, tone and sharp nature of the comments in the earlier post are not in keeping with the communication expected from an official handle. The genuine anger expressed in the comments on the post has been duly noted. We sincerely apologise to those who were surprised and upset by this. From now on, our communication will be dignified and formal."

How it started

The controversy began after opposition leaders raised questions over bizarre voter names, such as "Ram ne Yadav ko maara (Ram beat Yadav)", appearing in the electoral roll for the MLC polls in UP. The entry was later clarified by the UP CEO office as a translation error involving the name "Ramhit Yadav".

Later, AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh also raised the issue on social media, questioning the entry and drawing attention to the apparent error.

In a post on X in Hindi, Singh had asked, "Gyanesh Kumar ji, 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?"

Responding to the criticism, the UP CEO's handle had posted: "The recent Legislative Council election voter list also contains a strange name: 'Ram beat Sharma'. Computers/software are not casteist. We accept that a mistake was made, but fortunately, even while making the mistake, there was no caste discrimination. We should also thank God that Ram did not kill a member of a minority community. Otherwise, along with being accused of casteism, we would also have been accused of communalism."

As remarks drew further criticism, sources said the subsequent apology sought to address the backlash over the language used in the post.

Software 'error'

After the errors were found in 158 of the 14.81 lakh entries in the electoral rolls for the biennial elections to five graduate and six teachers' constituencies, CEO Navdeep Rinwa had demanded explanations from officials responsible.

Rinwa attributed the discrepancies to a combination of software-related errors and human negligence. The CEO's office said the divisional commissioners concerned serve as Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) for these electoral rolls, while the district magistrates of the respective districts function as Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs). These officials have been asked to explain the discrepancies.