NEW DELHI, Nov 8: A home in Haryana’s Hodal town owned by a BJP leader has become the focal point of a political storm. House No. 265, mentioned by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi during his recent press conference on alleged voter fraud has triggered a heated exchange between the ruling BJP and the Opposition.
Authorities, however, claimed this to be “administrative oversight” and no organised scam as alleged by Mr Rahul Gandhi.
The Congress alleged that 501 voters were registered under a single address, House No. 265, which it said exposed large-scale irregularities in the voter list. The property belongs to Sundar Singh, a local BJP leader and former municipal councillor.
Residents and local officials pointed to a clerical mix-up rather than an orchestrated scam. They explained that almost every home in the locality had been incorrectly listed under the same number, 265, due to a data entry error made by the Booth Level Officer (BLO).
“We have five homes in a row here, all belong to my brothers and cousins,” said Sundar Singh. “All these houses have been marked as House No. 265 in the voter list. Even homes belonging to my grandfather’s brothers in adjoining lanes are listed under the same number.”
Singh said while the numbering error was administrative, the issue of dual voter registration did exist in some cases. “Many of them have become voters here while retaining their registration in Uttar Pradesh, that’s a serious concern and should be looked into,” he added.
Locals maintained that they are genuine voters, blaming “administrative oversight” for the confusion. Some admitted that while their Aadhaar cards mention different addresses, the electoral roll lists them all under House No. 265.
Following the uproar, the Palwal district administration launched a door-to-door verification drive to identify and correct discrepancies in the voter list. BLOs have been directed to visit every household in Ward No. 21 to verify details and ensure the accuracy of the rolls.
The controversy comes amid escalating claims of voter list manipulation. Earlier this week, Rahul Gandhi alleged that Haryana’s voter rolls were riddled with fake and duplicate entries, claiming that “one in every eight voters in Haryana is fake.” He said his team had uncovered “25 lakh fake votes” and presented what he described as “100 per cent proof” of large-scale irregularities, including examples of voters registered multiple times under different names.
(Manas Dasgupta)