Fake Voters in thousands were injected into the Pilibhit voter roll in Uttar Pradesh. When caught, the ECI accepted the fraud.We found, it hasn’t yet removed all the fake voters and brought back the legitimate citizens to the roll.
In 55 booths of Pilibhit we had found 2,691 fake voters. When we rechecked yesterday we found 2,638 continue to exist despite the UP Chief Electoral Officer acknowledging more than a week ago these were illegally inserted. We can’t confirm whether the thousands of other fake voters across other polling booths of the constituency continue to exist as well.
We investigated to find out how the fraud had taken place. What we found is worrisome. The fraud could take place because the ECI’s rules allow it and its software, ECINET, weaponises this loophole.
People can be taken off the roll and fake voters inserted without citizens coming to know before they go to the polling station to vote one day.
We probed into the ECI’s software and we accessed its records to find out how this Fake Voter Playbook could be misused in any part of the country, against any citizen.
My colleagues Shubhangi Derhgawen, Sumedha Mittal and Dikshya Koirala and I investigated for this report from Pilibhit and Delhi.
Read our investigation here:
ECI’s Software and Rules Allow the Pilibhit Fake-Voter Playbook to Run Anywhere in India
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