ECI and Patna admin’s rebuttal of Ajit Anjum’s SIR ‘exposé’ has several loopholes

by Abhishek Kumar

With the Election Commission’s special intensive revision (SIR) of voter list underway in poll-bound Bihar, several reports have emerged highlighting irregularities and flaws in the said exercise. Employees at multiple levels are reportedly under significant pressure to expedite the process. The Block Development Officer (BDO) of Barsoi block in Katihar district recently submitted his resignation to the district magistrate alleging mental harassment by the sub-divisional officer. The BDO also accused the officer of pressuring him to work 24 hours a day. 

In a related development, senior journalist Ajit Anjum released a video report from a block office in the Phulwari assembly constituency of Patna, showing a BLO engaged in an SIR work. In his report, Anjum alleged that BLOs were forging signatures on voter forms.

Subsequently, the Patna district administration ‘fact-checked’ Anjum’s claims, calling them misleading and baseless. The Election Commission also shared this fact-check on X.

Claim I by Patna District Administration

In a press note, the Patna district administration stated that it had taken cognisance of the matter flagged by Anjum, and the district election officer-cum-district magistrate, Patna, had constituted a district-level investigation committee under the chairmanship of the deputy development commissioner, Patna. During the investigation, it was discovered that all the BLOs present in the video had been preparing a list of deceased/shifted voters of the respective assembly constituency. In addition, the press note claimed that the investigation confirmed that the enumeration form of deceased/shifteds voters was being verified by the BLO by writing ‘Death’ or ‘Shifted’ along with putting his signature.

The district administration also shared two such documents in which the signature of BLO Rani Kumari with the words ‘Death’ and ‘Shifted’ can be seen on the back of the voter enumeration form.

What We Found

Upon taking a closer look at the video uploaded by journalist Ajit Anjum on his YouTube channel, we observed that the BLO was not signing as herself. In fact, the male BLO was signing in the name of Shanti Devi. Furthermore, the female BLO was signing in the name of Chandra Prakash Sah. Therefore, the claim of the Patna administration that the BLO was verifying the enumeration form of dead/shifted voters by writing ‘Death’ or ‘Shifted’ and signing the forms seems to be misleading.

Claim II

After the first claim was proven wrong, the Patna district administration issued a new statement. In this response, they cited the death certificate of the deceased Chandra Prakash Sah and stated that it had also verified the information about the voter named Shanti Devi being deceased. It claimed that the BLO had verified that both of these individuals were dead by writing ‘Death’ on their forms and putting their names (the deceased person’s) in the signature column.

What We Found

It is worth noting that in the first document issued, the Patna district administration showed that in the deceased/shifted voters’ enumeration form, the BLO’s signature was below the ‘Death’ or ‘Shifted’ remark. However, in the second statement issued by the district administration, it was claimed that the BLO verified that both the individuals in question were deceased by marking ‘Death’ and writing the deceased person’s name (read signature) in place of the voter’s signature. Two different formats for filling the enumeration forms of deceased voters in the same block seems suspicious and creates confusion. The two different statements by the administration seem to be hastily prepared, and are contradictory.

Along with this glaring discrepancy in the two statements, the other question that this response by Patna district administration raises is whether there is any legally accepted procedure where the signature of a deceased individual can be replaced by someone else writing the deceased person’s name in the signature box. In addition, it raises the question of whether a deceased person can even have a signature. Indian law considers the use of a signature of another individual in place of the concerned person in a document as forgery and treats it as a crime.

Claim III

In both its first and subsequent press notes, the Patna district administration claimed that all the BLOs seen in journalist Ajit Anjum’s video were preparing the list of deceased/shifted voters of their respective polling stations.

The Patna district administration also released a video of a female BLO speaking on the matter. In the footage, she can be heard saying that she was making a list of dead/shifted voters from the block.

What We Found

Another name appears in journalist Ajit Anjum’s video, that of Sanjay Kumar, son of Ramayan Yadav. It is seen in the video that Sanjay Kumar’s signature was being done on his form by the female BLO.

Alt News verified Sanjay Yadav’s details on the Election Commission website and found his name in the voter roll released by the body.

(For privacy reasons, we have redacted the address details of Sanjay Kumar and his father.)

Apart from this, journalist Meera Rajput from a YouTube channel named National Pillar and journalist Jyotish Chauhan from a YouTube channel named NUBT NEWS reached the scene and reported that Sanjay Kumar was, in fact, not deceased. They also shared a picture of Kumar and his father Ramayan Yadav with us.

Journalist Meera Rajput, who reached the scene to conduct a ground report, also shared with us the voter ID and Aadhaar cards of Sanjay Kumar and his father Ramayan Yadav. Kumar’s photo on his voter ID card and his EPIC number match the one seen in Ajit Anjum’s video. In addition to this, Alt News also independently verified that Sanjay Kumar is a resident of the same place, and has not shifted somewhere else.

To sum up, the claim made by the Patna district administration in its press note and alleged investigation stating all the BLOs present in journalist Ajit Anjum’s video were preparing the list of dead/shifted voters of their respective polling booths and adding their own signatures does not seem to be completely factual. This is because neither is Sanjay Kumar dead, nor has he shifted, whereas in the video it can be seen that BLO is signing Sanjay Kumar’s enumeration form on his behalf.

Change in Status of Sanjay Kumar’s Enumeration Form

On the night of July 18, Anjum posted some pictures raising questions on the Patna district administration. These pictures included the enumeration form of a voter named Sanjay Kumar on the BLO’s table and a screenshot of the status of his form, which showed that it had been submitted.

Alt News checked the status of Sanjay Kumar’s enumeration form through EPIC on July 18 itself. The result was as follows, “Your enumeration form has been submitted. Your name will appear in the draft electoral list to be published on 01.08.2025. If you have not yet submitted your document, please contact your BLO.”

When we checked the status of Sanjay Kumar’s enumeration form again through the same EPIC number before publishing this report, we noticed the status has now changed. The result shows, “Please contact your BLO”. This also confirms that after Kumar’s case was pointed out on social media, the district administration changed the status of the enumeration form of the said voter. The difference in the status of Sanjay Kumar’s enumeration form before and after can be seen in the graphic given below.

Donate to Alt News!
Independent journalism that speaks truth to power and is free of corporate and political control is possible only when people start contributing towards the same. Please consider donating towards this endeavour to fight fake news and misinformation.

Donate Now

About the Author

Abhishek is a senior fact-checking journalist and researcher at Alt News. He has a keen interest in information verification and technology. He is always eager to learn new skills, explore new OSINT tools and techniques. Prior to joining Alt News, he worked in the field of content development and analysis with a major focus on Search Engine Optimization (SEO).