Shortfalls found in UP chief electoral officer’s response to Rahul Gandhi’s allegations: Report
New Delhi: Congress leader and Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi held a press conference in the city on Thursday, August 7, where he alleged that there had been voter list manipulation during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and accused the Election Commission (EC) of ‘vote theft’ and ‘criminal fraud’.
During a presentation where he provided information on one constituency in Karnataka, Gandhi cited the examples of two voters, Aditya Srivastava and Vishal Singh, whose names were in the lists of other states, including Uttar Pradesh. While the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Uttar Pradesh issued a statement on August 7, stating that neither Aditya Srivastava nor Vishal Singh were in UP voter lists, AltNews states that it has found shortcomings in the response of the CEO.
Gandhi used screenshots from the EC website from March 16, 2025 to explain his argument regarding Srivastava and Singh, and questioned the possibility of the same voter featuring in the lists of more than one state. The screenshot also showed the name of Srivastava, with EPIC number FPP6437040, present in the voter lists of two booths of the Mahadevapura constituency in Karnataka. A voter with the same name and EPIC number was found in the lists of Jogeshwari East constituency in Maharashtra and also of Lucknow East in Uttar Pradesh.
The LoP further showed during the press conference that Vishal Singh’s name, with EPIC number INB2722288, appeared in lists of two booths in Mahadevapura as well as Varanasi Cantt assembly seat in Uttar Pradesh.
The Uttar Pradesh CEO, refuting Gandhi’s charges, said that the EC website showed Srivastava, with EPIC number FPP6437040 and as son of SP Srivastava, and Vishal Singh, with EPIC number INB2722288, son of Mahipal Singh, to be at serial number 1265 in Mahadevapura booth number 458, Bengaluru Urban, and serial number 926 in Mahadevapura booth number 513 respectively. The CEO added that neither of the voters was in the lists in UP.
AltNews has shown that, while Gandhi shared an EC website screenshot dated March 16, 2025, the UP CEO’s statement was based on a search of the website on August 7, 2025.
Citing its own search, the media house stated that the names and EPIC numbers shared by the LoP were from the Draft Roll-2025 published by the Election Commission on October 29, 2024 and Final Roll-2025 published on January 7, 2025 for Lucknow East and Varanasi Cantt constituencies. “We found that the names of Aditya Srivastava and Vishal Singh were present in these lists. The EPIC numbers of both match the screenshot shared by Rahul Gandhi. The UP CEO’s statement does not match the information in the Draft Roll-2025 and Final Roll-2025 available on the Election Commission website that we accessed. Their statement appears to be misleading and false,” AltNews has said.
Also stating that a close check of the UP CEO’s statement showed more errors, AltNews pointed out that the officer has said that Srivastava’s details show the voter to be the son of SP Srivastava. “However, when we searched with Aditya Srivastava’s EPIC number in the voter list of the Mahadevpura constituency, the voter details were different from the UP CEO’s statement. The voter details do not show Aditya Srivastava’s father’s name but the name of a relative – Rithika Srivastava,” the media house has said.
Referring to other details on the voter, the report states, “Moreover, when we tried to look for Aditya Srivastava based on the information in the screenshot shared by Rahul Gandhi under the ‘Search by Details’ option on the Election Commission’s website, we found the name Aditya Srivastava, the son of S P Srivastava (as mentioned in the UP CEO’s statement), in the voter list of Lucknow East assembly seat. However, in a strange twist, the EPIC number against his name is different now.”
In addition, speaking of the voter’s details in the Final Roll-2025, AltNews has said, “We cross-checked his details with the Final Roll-2025 published by the Election Commission and found that most of these details such as the polling station, serial number and age of the voter (Aditya Srivastava, son of SP Srivastava) matched except the EPIC number. The EPIC number FPP6437040 has been changed to RXM4728275.”
The media house stated that its findings as compared to those of the UP CEO showed that the claims made by the officer to be not only misleading but also issued in urgency and without adequate research.
— CEO UP (@ceoup) August 7, 2025
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Women BJP MLAs protest against opposition in UP assembly premises
Lucknow (PTI): Women BJP MLAs held a protest in the Vidhan Bhawan complex before the one-day special session of Uttar Pradesh assembly, slamming the opposition for defeating the passage of a bill, which would have led to implementation of the Women's Reservation Law, in the Lok Sabha.
This followed another demonstration by Samajwadi Party MLAs, who alleged that the BJP was misleading public in the name of women's reservation.
The women BJP legislators assembled in front of Chaudhary Charan Singh's statue in the assembly premises, holding banners inscribed with the slogan "Insult to Matrushakti (women's power), India will not tolerate it". The protesting members entered the main hall of Vidhan Bhawan carrying the banners.
Participating in the protest, the state Minister for Women Welfare and Child Development, Baby Rani Maurya, told reporters that all opposition parties, including the Samajwadi Party and the Congress, had opposed the women's reservation, a stance for which they would have to pay a heavy political price.
"On this issue, all of us women stand united. We will ensure that we secure our reservation," she said.
BJP MLA Ketki Singh remarked that their protest represents the collective outrage of millions of women across the state.
Singh asserted that the opposition has betrayed women by creating hurdles in the path of women's reservation. The current demonstration is merely the beginning, and very soon, women from every street, intersection and household will join the protest movement, she said.
Minister Vijaylakshmi Gautam said, "We strongly condemn the despicable act committed by the Samajwadi Party and the Congress in an attempt to hold back 'half the population' (women). Their action was directed against the very bill that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had introduced to empower and strengthen Nari Shakti (women's power), and which he strived to pass expeditiously."
Uttar Pradesh assembly is holding a one-day special session on Thursday. During the session, the government is set to move a censure motion against the opposition parties over their failure to pass the Constitution Amendment Bill, which would have led to implementation of the Women's Reservation Act, in the Lok Sabha.
