The Crossbill News Desk
The Uttar Pradesh chief electoral officer’s (CEO) office has ordered the deactivation of ECINET portal login IDs issued to computer assistants working at voter registration centres across the state, following an inquiry into the alleged misuse of operator credentials in Pilibhit district. The directive covers 806 computer assistants deployed in different assembly constituencies.
According to a press release issued on Saturday (October 31), the inquiry in Pilibhit found that 13,779 forms had been erroneously entered on the ECINET platform between May 31 and August 29 this year. Of these, 10,470 had already been approved.
The CEO’s office, headed by Navdeep Rinwa, said the move was intended to prevent computer operators from using their login credentials to carry out illegal activities on the voter registration portal. The instruction has been issued to district election officers (DEOs) across Uttar Pradesh and applies to operators working in the offices of electoral registration officers (EROs) in all constituencies.
The DEOs have been asked to ensure that all the login IDs are deactivated and obtain confirmation from the respective EROs. They have also been directed to personally verify the implementation of the order in every assembly constituency and submit compliance reports to the CEO’s office without delay.
“After all login IDs are deactivated, confirmation of this will be obtained from the concerned electoral registration officer. District election officers will personally verify the action taken in all assembly constituencies and ensure that a compliance report is immediately provided to the chief electoral officer’s office,” the statement said.
The CEO’s office has also instructed the agency responsible for outsourcing staff to terminate the services of the computer assistant allegedly involved in the Pilibhit case, registered under Assembly Constituency 127.
“The concerned firm has been directed to immediately terminate the service of the involved outsourced computer assistant in the case of Assembly Constituency 127-Pilibhit,” it said.
An election official told The Indian Express that computer assistants had initially been granted access to ECINET because many booth-level officers (BLOs) lacked adequate training to operate the digital platform. However, with most BLOs now trained to use the BLO app, the requirement for separate operators has considerably diminished.
“Only the BLO concerned should submit forms relating to the polling booth assigned to them now. Forms can reach the system either through online submission on the ECINET/BLO app or through physical submission, which will subsequently be digitised,” the official said.
EROs will retain access to the portal through their own credentials and will be directly responsible for voter-related entries. The CEO’s office has instructed all districts to implement the order immediately, warning that any negligence in carrying out the directions would not be tolerated.
The move comes amid a politically charged debate over the revision of electoral rolls in Uttar Pradesh. Chief Minister Adityanath has claimed that around 1.27 crore Hindu voters are missing from the state’s electoral rolls and urged BJP workers to coordinate with BLOs to ensure that eligible voters are registered.
Addressing the BJP’s state executive committee meeting on Friday (October 30), Adityanath alleged that the absence of these voters was affecting the party’s prospects in 28 urban local body seats, The Telegraph reported.
He also pointed to an alleged discrepancy between the state’s population estimates and the number of registered voters.
The chief minister claimed that 66 lakh people listed in panchayat voter rolls and another 55 lakh beneficiaries of government welfare schemes were missing from the electoral rolls. He asked party workers to use data from the ‘Kamal Saathi’ app to identify such voters and directed MPs, MLAs and local party leaders to monitor the revision process.
The developments have brought renewed attention to the functioning of the ECINET platform and the safeguards governing entries in the electoral rolls, even as political parties raise competing claims over the number of voters missing from the lists.
According to a press release issued on Saturday (October 31), the inquiry in Pilibhit found that 13,779 forms had been erroneously entered on the ECINET platform between May 31 and August 29 this year. Of these, 10,470 had already been approved.
The CEO’s office, headed by Navdeep Rinwa, said the move was intended to prevent computer operators from using their login credentials to carry out illegal activities on the voter registration portal. The instruction has been issued to district election officers (DEOs) across Uttar Pradesh and applies to operators working in the offices of electoral registration officers (EROs) in all constituencies.
The DEOs have been asked to ensure that all the login IDs are deactivated and obtain confirmation from the respective EROs. They have also been directed to personally verify the implementation of the order in every assembly constituency and submit compliance reports to the CEO’s office without delay.
“After all login IDs are deactivated, confirmation of this will be obtained from the concerned electoral registration officer. District election officers will personally verify the action taken in all assembly constituencies and ensure that a compliance report is immediately provided to the chief electoral officer’s office,” the statement said.
The CEO’s office has also instructed the agency responsible for outsourcing staff to terminate the services of the computer assistant allegedly involved in the Pilibhit case, registered under Assembly Constituency 127.
“The concerned firm has been directed to immediately terminate the service of the involved outsourced computer assistant in the case of Assembly Constituency 127-Pilibhit,” it said.
An election official told The Indian Express that computer assistants had initially been granted access to ECINET because many booth-level officers (BLOs) lacked adequate training to operate the digital platform. However, with most BLOs now trained to use the BLO app, the requirement for separate operators has considerably diminished.
“Only the BLO concerned should submit forms relating to the polling booth assigned to them now. Forms can reach the system either through online submission on the ECINET/BLO app or through physical submission, which will subsequently be digitised,” the official said.
EROs will retain access to the portal through their own credentials and will be directly responsible for voter-related entries. The CEO’s office has instructed all districts to implement the order immediately, warning that any negligence in carrying out the directions would not be tolerated.
The move comes amid a politically charged debate over the revision of electoral rolls in Uttar Pradesh. Chief Minister Adityanath has claimed that around 1.27 crore Hindu voters are missing from the state’s electoral rolls and urged BJP workers to coordinate with BLOs to ensure that eligible voters are registered.
Addressing the BJP’s state executive committee meeting on Friday (October 30), Adityanath alleged that the absence of these voters was affecting the party’s prospects in 28 urban local body seats, The Telegraph reported.
He also pointed to an alleged discrepancy between the state’s population estimates and the number of registered voters.
The chief minister claimed that 66 lakh people listed in panchayat voter rolls and another 55 lakh beneficiaries of government welfare schemes were missing from the electoral rolls. He asked party workers to use data from the ‘Kamal Saathi’ app to identify such voters and directed MPs, MLAs and local party leaders to monitor the revision process.
The developments have brought renewed attention to the functioning of the ECINET platform and the safeguards governing entries in the electoral rolls, even as political parties raise competing claims over the number of voters missing from the lists.
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