Hours later fact checker Mohammad Zubair, one of the founders of AltNews fact-checked the Uttar Pradesh CEO. “Many BJP IT cell members are referring to @aajtak fact check which claimed that they did a “voter search” in ECI website and it didn’t match Rahul Gandhi’s claim. So, they concluded that the data provided by Rahul Gandhi is wrong. Let me share the full screen recording of the ECI website I did to verify @RahulGandhi’s claim.”

“First searched for Aditya Srivastava’s name in the list shared by ECI on its website.

1. Lucknow East, Part number: 84, Sl no. 630, EPIC number: FPP6437040.

2. Mumbai Suburban, Jogeshwari East (Maharashtra). Found his name in Part no: 197, Sl no. 877 with the same EPIC number: FPP6437040

3. Next searched for his name in Karnataka, Mahadevpura, Part no: 458, Sl no. 1265, with the same EPIC number: FPP6437040.

4. Next searched for his name in Karnataka, Mahadevpura, Part no: 459, Sl no. 678, with the same EPIC number: FPP6437040

Thus, the same voter, with the name EPIC number and other details does seem to figure in the electoral rolls in three different states and in two booths of the same constituency in Karnataka’s Bangalore Central Lok Sabha constituency.

The ECI has the capacity to detect such duplication seamlessly through the ERONET, the Election Commission’s standardised processing system. Why wasn’t it detected is the question that the ECI needs to answer.