UP poll body apologises for bizarre 'thank God Ram didn't kill any minority' post
UP poll body apologises for bizarre 'thank God Ram didn't kill any minority' post
M.U.H
27/10/202614
Amid a raging controversy over the Uttar Pradesh chief election officer's alleged casteist remark on an erroneous voter slip entry, the poll body on Tuesday apologised for the "tone" and "language" of the comment. The row erupted after AAP MP Sanjay Singh questioned Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar over the erroneous entry where "Ramhit Yadav" became "Ram ne Yadav ko Maara".
The name appeared in the voter list of the recent Uttar Pradesh legislative council elections. Pointing out the glaring mistake, Singh questioned the CEC on whether he was running the agenda of a particular political party. It comes amid massive protests against Gyanesh Kumar over the SIR exercise.
WHAT IS THE CONTROVERSY?
In a post on X in Hindi, Singh asked, "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?"
In a sarcastic response, the office of Uttar Pradesh CEO Navdeep Rinwa cited another instance of a similar error in the voter list. Here, the name of the father of a voter, Ravi Sharma, was incorrectly recorded as "Ram ne Sharma ko Maara".
This was used by the UP CEO to argue that while an error definitely happened, no caste discrimination took place.
"A bizarre name, 'Ram ne Sharma ko maara' (Ram killed Sharma), has appeared in the voter list for the recent Legislative Council elections. Computers/software are not casteist. We admit that a mistake was made, but fortunately for us, even when the mistake occurred, caste discrimination was not involved," the UP CEO tweeted.
It followed another sarcastic remark. The post further said that had the entry read "Ram hit a minority", the authorities would have been accused of communalism too.
"Thank God, Ram did not kill a member of a minority community. Otherwise, we would have been accused of being communal as well as casteist," it said.
UP ELECTION BODY APOLOGISES
However, the response of the UP CEO only added to the outrage.
On Monday, Sanjay Singh held a press conference in Lucknow, alleging that the UP CEO was responding like an "agent of the BJP". He also flagged other absurd entries in the electoral rolls.
"The name of 'Mohammad Iqbal Beg' has been recorded as 'Mohammad Iqbal bheekh maangte hain'," Singh said. The AAP Rajya Sabha MP also sought strict action against Rinwa for the objectionable remarks.
As the row escalated, the office of the UP CEO issued an apology on Tuesday.
"The tone, language and sharpness of the comments in the quoted post from this handle are not in keeping with the kind of communication expected from an official handle," the post read.
"The genuine outrage sparked by the comments in the post has been duly noted. We sincerely apologise to those who have been shocked and angered by them. From now on, our communication will be civil and formal," it further said.
In fact, several opposition leaders had previously flagged instances of erroneous entries in the UP electoral records. It raising questions over the computer software used to prepare voter lists.
The UP CEO earlier said the software used to prepare voter lists was designed to transliterate names entered in English into Hindi. For instance, 'Ramhit Yadav' was incorrectly entered as 'Ram Hit Yadav'. The software interpreted the words as a sentence and produced "Ram ne Yadav ko Maara" in Hindi.
