UP CEO Apologises For Sarcastic Post Amid Voter Slip Names Controversy; Says 'Outrage Was Genuine'

The Uttar Pradesh Chief Electoral Office on Tuesday issued an apology letter for the contentious comments made over accusations of caste bias over an inaccurate voter slip. Sharing a post on X, the UP CEO claimed that the outrage regarding the comments on the official was "genuine".

How did the CEO respond?

Sharing the post, the UP CEO said, "The tone and tenor and the acerbic nature of the comments in the quoted post of this handle are not in line with the nature of communication expected from this official handle. The genuine outrage generated by the comments in the post has been well noted. We offer our sincere apologies to the persons shocked and offended by it. Our communication henceforth will be decorous and formal.” This comes after an Aam Aadmi Party leader, named Sanjay Singh, flagged erroneous names in voter slips.

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हालिया विधान परिषद के चुनाव की मतदाता सूची में एक अजीबोगरीब नाम “राम ने शर्मा को मारा” भी है। कंप्यूटर/सॉफ्टवेयर जातिवादी नहीं है। हमारे द्वारा गलती किया जाना स्वीकार है लेकिन हमारे सौभाग्य से गलती होते समय भी जाति का भेदभाव नहीं हुआ है। भगवान का यह भी शुक्र है की राम ने किसी अल्पसंख्यक को नहीं मारा है। नहीं तो जातिवादी होने के साथ-साथ सांप्रदायिक होने का इल्ज़ाम भी लगता।

— CEO Uttar Pradesh (@ceoup) October 25, 2026

Singh highlighted that the electoral rolls contained absurd entries, such as "Ram ne Yadav ko maara" (Ram killed Yadav), the father of "Narendra Yadav" being listed as "B. Com," and the name of "Mohammad Iqbal Beg" being recorded as "Mohammad Iqbal bheekh maangte hain."

Responding to Singh's accusations, the CEO's office made objectionable remarks. The poll body said, “In the voter list for the recent Legislative Council elections, there is also a bizarre name: 'Ram ne Sharma ko mara." Computers/software are not casteist. It is acceptable that we made a mistake, but fortunately, even during the mistake, there was no discrimination based on caste. We must also thank God that Ram did not kill any minority. Otherwise, in addition to being casteist, there would also be an accusation of being communal."

Flagging the issues in the voter roll, Singh also alleged that UP Chief Electoral Officer Navdeep Rinwa was acting as a “BJP agent".

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"The Election Commission's remark -- that 'the software is not casteist', and the comment that 'thankfully, Ram did not kill any member of a minority community, otherwise there would have been accusations of communalism' -- proves that an agent of the BJP is occupying a constitutional position. With such an official in place, fair elections are not possible in Uttar Pradesh; strict action must be taken against him," said Singh during a press conference in Lucknow.