In line with the Serot household, the unique residents of H/N 265, since 2016 names aside from the household have appeared on the voter checklist for this tackle. These embody voters from different castes who dwell close by, in addition to names unknown to their households. Nevertheless, one of many members of the Serot clan, Shiv Ram Serot, a Bharatiya Janata Social gathering employee and former member of the Khodar Municipal Council, dismissed the declare for title addition.
The voter checklist of sales space quantity 162, HGM Excessive Faculty, has registered 502 votes (not 501 votes as said by Gandhi) for H/N 265. Apart from, there are 2 extra votes towards H/N 265/1, 14 votes towards 265/A, 42 votes towards 265/B, 3 votes towards 265/Ok and three votes towards (in Hindi). Alphabet), 7 vs. 265/G (Hindi Alphabet).
As per the 2019 knowledge out there on the Haryana Chief Election Officer web site, the variety of folks related to H/N 265, together with those that are under voting age and those that are settled elsewhere, is considerably increased, round 630 folks, contemplating that the Electoral-Inhabitants Ratio (EP Ratio) within the state is 63.04.
Concerning the opposite tackle talked about by Rahul Gandhi, the votes registered below H/N 150 belong to the household of Bharatiya Janata Social gathering Zilla Parishad chief Umesh Gurdana (a Gujjar). These embody daughters from households who married exterior the village however are nonetheless on the voter checklist.
9 Dalit voters are additionally registered on the identical tackle.
Congress chief Uday Bhan instructed ThePrint that homes 265 and 150 usually are not the one addresses receiving a number of votes in Khodar Meeting constituency.
“There are 42 homes in Khodar with greater than 100 votes and 42,990 voters are registered in homes with greater than 20 votes and 1,863 folks have forged duplicate votes,” Uday Bhan stated, including that as per the Election Fee of India’s order, particular verification can be required if a family has greater than 20 votes.
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Has the H/N 265 voter checklist modified in 2016?
H/N 265 in Hodar city has 5 homes lined up in keeping with the directions of the residents. The residents are the late Ram Het Selot’s 5 sons, Ram Swaroop, Hari Singh, Jawahar Singh, Prem Singh and Digambar Singh.
Ram Swaroop’s household consists of seven voters, together with himself (81), his spouse Kishni (72), son Zail Singh (48), spouse Sunita (46), son Pawan Kumar, daughter-in-law Anju and one other son Bharat.
The households of Hari Singh, Jawahar Singh, Prem Singh and Digambar Singh have six, 4, 4 and 5 voters respectively.
Hari Singh Therot’s son Sundar Singh (42) instructed ThePrint that the voter checklist throughout the 2014 Lok Sabha elections was not like this.
H/N 265 contained solely the votes of just a little greater than 100 prolonged members of the family, together with sons, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, their spouses and different family. “A number of numbers, together with these of households belonging to different castes within the neighborhood, had been added to H/N 265 for the primary time within the 2016 municipal elections after which once more within the meeting and meeting elections held in 2019 and 2024.”
Mr Sundar’s uncle, Bharatiya Janata Social gathering employee and Khodar municipal councilor Shiv Ram Selot, explains that his grandfather Kundan Singh Selot had 4 sons: Shri Ram, Ram Het, Hari Chandi and Dewan Chand.
“I’m the son of Hari Chandi (now deceased), however Sundar Singh is my nephew as he’s the grandson of my taya (father’s elder brother) Ram Het. If you happen to rely Ram Het’s household, the households of Shri Ram, Hari Chandi and Dewan Chand additionally dwell close by and so they too vote right here (H/N 265),” Shiv Ram instructed ThePrint.
That is not it. Shiv Ram stated his grandfather Kundan Singh Therot’s youthful brother Chandan Singh Seroth has three sons whose households additionally dwell within the space and “they too have the best to vote right here.”
If all the pieces is counted, Kundan Singh and Chandan Singh’s household ought to have greater than 150 votes, he says.
Requested how he might register 502 votes for a similar tackle, Shiv Ram stated the realm developed over time as an unregulated colony on ancestral land, and lots of the homes constructed there didn’t have official road addresses. “The sales space degree official (BLO) began mentioning H/N 265 to all residents within the neighborhood over a time period,” he claims.
When ThePrint identified Sundar Singh’s declare that voters exterior the clan weren’t proven data towards H/N 265 until the 2014 elections, Shiv Ram countered that such a listing existed for the reason that Congress period.
Former Haryana Congress president Uday Bhan, who unsuccessfully contested the Khodar meeting elections in 2019 and 2024, stated not all 502 votes registered towards H/N 265 had been pretend votes.
Nevertheless, there have been many exterior voters, particularly from UP, and primarily supporters of the Bharatiya Janata Social gathering, Uday Bhan stated.
“I misplaced within the 2024 elections by a margin of solely 2,595 votes, however there are over 4,000 voters from Uttar Pradesh in Khodar city, which incorporates this space the place 502 voters are registered,” Byrne claimed.
Uday Bhan stated he’s compiling detailed knowledge on this and can share it quickly.
“We didn’t know that Rahul ji (Rahul Gandhi) would maintain a press convention so quickly. We had been nonetheless investigating and will have revealed extra particulars if we had extra time,” Byrne stated.
His son Devesh Kumar, who was amongst those that investigated the alleged irregularities within the Congress electoral roll, stated that neither his father nor Rahul Gandhi had claimed that each one 502 voters had been pretend. “Rahul Ji appealed how the Election Fee might enable 501 voters to be registered below one roof (H/N 265).”
Debesh claims that voter rolls with a number of names below a single tackle first appeared in 2016, when Shiv Ram Sehlot ran for native elections. “He’s from the Bharatiya Janata Social gathering and gained that election. Apparently he modified the checklist.”
Shiv Ram denied the allegations and stated that whereas he stays a staunch supporter of the BJP, his nephew Sundar Singh and his 4 uncles’ households assist Uday Bhan. Handle H/N 265 belongs to all of them, he added.
“Uday Bhan has not been capable of digest his defeat in two consecutive elections. He by no means made such claims when he gained. Now that the folks have chosen the BJP, he’s making such accusations,” Shiv Ram stated.
Whereas verifying the voter checklist, ThePrint discovered a number of discrepancies. For instance, Prahalad (serial quantity 15), son of Partha Ram, is a Ghadia Lohar who’s a part of a nomadic ironsmith group and lives not close to H/N 265, however in a thatched hut close to Dharam Kantha (Truck Weighing Station) owned by the Serot household.
Equally, nobody within the locality knew about Suresh Chander’s spouse Dimple Bansal (67) (serial quantity 34). Not less than three residents confirmed that there aren’t any Bansals in our hometown.
Requested about voter with serial quantity 42, Jiwan Lal’s son Suresh Chand (67), Sundar Singh stated he isn’t native however lives close to New Sabzi Mandi. “That is what I’ve been saying: Voters from areas not linked to our colonies are additionally registered on H/N 265,” he says.
Though their hometown is named Krishna Colony, a number of voters from close by Shiv Colony stay registered with H/N 265, Sundar Singh added.
Responding to claims that voters from exterior the state had been being registered regionally, Sundar Singh stated folks from Piprawa, Bhargaon, Lalpur, Basain Kalan, Umrara, Kadauna and different villages of UP have settled in Khodar and have been residing there for a number of years. “These folks migrated from their villages to cities for his or her kids’s training and constructed their properties on this space. However it’s true that many individuals are nonetheless registered to vote in Uttar Pradesh as nicely.”
Home No. 150, Guldana
Sarai is positioned 10 kilometers from Khodar on the Delhi highway. Two kilometers from Sarai, flip proper and one can find the tranquil village of Gurdana.
After passing by modest homes, ThePrint arrived at a sequence of six well-built koshis (bungalows) with an SUV parked exterior.
“That is H/N 150,” says Umesh Gurdana, head of Zilla Parishad in Khodar and proprietor of the home.
“My father, Raja Ram, was one in all 9 brothers – Jagmal, Ganga Ram, Suresh, Nepal, Dharampal, Ramesh, Rajpal and Kamal. The final Kamal handed away lately,” he instructed ThePrint, pointing to a banner in Kamal’s reminiscence put up on H/N 150, which serves as an workplace. “The households of all 9 siblings dwell right here in Cotis, and a lot of the votes belong to them.”
When instructed that Mr. Uday Bhan had issued a warning to a number of Scheduled Caste (SC) voters registered in H/N 150, Mr. Umesh claimed that the folks talked about lived close by, however didn’t give any particulars about them.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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