Claiming that the 2024 Assembly elections in Haryana had been “stolen”, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi showed Wednesday a photograph of a woman which featured 223 times on the voter list in two booths during the polls. “The EC needs to tell us how many times she voted,” he said.The EC may not have responded to Gandhi, but sitting at her residence in Dhakola village in Ambala district, 75-year-old Charanjeet Kaur has an answer: Voted just once.The Indian Express visited the village that suddenly finds itself in the spotlight after Gandhi’s press conference, and found that Charanjeet’s photograph does appear alongside the names of at least 255 voters in booth numbers 63 and 65 in Dhakola village, which has a total of 2,117 registered voters. But for many of the 255, this isn’t breaking news.Also Read | As Rahul Gandhi readies for another ‘revelation’, what he said in the past on ‘vote chori’ exposesThe Indian Express tracked 17 such individuals and found that this issue has existed for at least a decade, has been flagged with authorities, and that they have cast their votes.Lakhmir Singh (71), a farmer from Dhakola, said the voter ID cards he and his family members possess have the correct photographs, but on the voter roll, Charanjeet’s photograph appears in place of his own and that of 10 other family members.“Every time I go to cast my vote – whether it’s for the MLA, MP or village sarpanch – the election staff say my photograph isn’t in the voter list,” said Lakhmir. “Then I show them my voter ID card, which has my photograph. I also show my Aadhaar card and driving licence to prove I am a genuine voter.”Charanjeet’s photograph is also listed beside Lakhmir’s brothers, Lakminder Singh and Sukhvinder Singh, and other family members: Ranjeet Singh, Karamjeet Kaur, Swaran Kaur, Gurvinder Kaur, Surjeet Kaur, Kamaljeet Singh, Paramjeet, and Jasjeet Singh. Seven of the 11 family members voted in the 2024 Assembly polls, Lakhmir said.Story continues below this adTejinder Singh, another village resident, said he and three of his family members have faced the same issue. “In 2022, when we went to vote in the village sarpanch election, the polling agents and election staff objected, saying our photographs didn’t match the voter list. We had to make a lot of effort to vote,” he said, adding that three of the four family members voted in the 2024 Assembly polls.Also Read | No theft here: These names Rahul flagged have voted, with valid address and ID cardJyoti Ram (74) and his daughter-in-law, Roma Devi, also find Charanjeet’s photograph in place of theirs on the voter roll. Jyoti, who runs a fruit cart, said, “The election agents know us, so we don’t face much trouble casting our votes despite Charanjeet Kaur’s photograph appearing next to our names. Even for election staffers, it’s challenging to raise objections when nearly 250 voters share the same issue.” Both voted in the 2024 Assembly polls.At her home, Charanjeet Kaur is aware of the situation. “Whenever I go to vote, the election staff, policemen on duty, and polling agents all laugh.”Charanjeet, who studied up to Class 5, said, “I tell everyone it’s not my fault that my photograph appears for so many voters. I also tell them it should be fixed. But it hasn’t been fixed yet.”Story continues below this adHer daughter-in-law, Gurmeet Kaur, contested the 2022 village sarpanch election but lost.Village sarpanch Sonia Devi’s husband, Devinder Singh, claimed the issue is the result of a “publication mistake, nothing else”.“It has been happening for years and hasn’t been corrected despite local officials being aware,” he said. “If there was bogus voting, why would Congress have secured a lead of nearly 150 votes from our village in the October 2024 Assembly polls for the Mullana constituency?” he said.In the 2024 Lok Sabha election, Congress’s Varun Chaudhary won, followed by his wife Pooja Chaudhary’s victory in the Assembly polls later that year. On the issue of Charanjeet Kaur’s photograph appearing in front of multiple voters, Varun said, “It’s wrong to have such a voter list. What does it say about the functioning of the Election Commission? The EC must now work to restore the faith of Haryana’s voters.”Story continues below this adRanjeet Singh, Lakhmir Singh’s son, whose family has 11 members affected by the photo mismatch, said they staged a dharna before the Block Development and Panchayat Officer (BDPO) before the 2022 panchayat polls, demanding that the issue be fixed. “But nothing happened,” he said.Booth Level Officer (BLO) Arvind Aggarwal said he took charge only a month ago: “Only the previous officials can explain how this mistake happened. But now I will visit every home, check their documents, and submit their cases to the election department to resolve the photo issue as soon as possible.”Gurdeep Singh, a resident of the village, whose mother Karamjeet Kaur served as the village sarpanch from 2005 to 2009, said that during that period, the voter list displayed the correct photographs of the voters. Rajiv Kharbanda, a government school teacher overseeing seven election booths – including the two in village Dhakola – said he was assigned the responsibility two months ago and was not familiar with the earlier records.An official source in the election department claimed a complaint had been received before the 2022 panchayat elections, prompting the correction of some voter photographs. “Such technical problems occur when a PDF file is sent for publication of the voters’ list and the file gets corrupted,” he claimed.Story continues below this adBarara (Ambala) Sub Divisional Magistrate-cum-Election Registration Officer, Satinder Siwach, said, “We are conducting an inquiry into the entire matter. We will update the photographs of all the eligible voters who will fill Form 8 for updatation of the photo.” Officials said the issue can also be resolved online through the National Voter Services Portal (NVSP).Haryana Chief Electoral Officer, A. Sreenivas, said that the matter would be thoroughly examined.At Wednesday’s press conference, Gandhi also said that in Sonipat district’s Rai, a stock photograph of a Brazilian national was used to cast votes 22 times at 10 booths. “She has got multiple names – Seema, Sweety, Saraswati, Rashmi, Vimla,” he said.The Indian Express had tracked four of the women on Wednesday, all of whom said they were unaware of the issue and had voted without incident. On Thursday, Express spoke to five more women, of whom at least three had voted.Story continues below this adIn Akbarpur Barota village, 57-year-old Bimla Devi’s son Sunil said she has a colour voter card from 2017, with her image, which she used to cast her vote.Poonam (29), also from Barota, left the village after a spat with her husband, Sonu, two years ago. “But she is not a fake voter. She had voted from here,” Sonu said, showing a soft copy of her voter ID on his phone.Anju (54), another resident, said she voted in the 2024 polls without an issue. She has a voter ID with her own photo from 2012.Saroj (37) said she moved from Rai to Bhiwani after her wedding seven years ago, and did not vote in last year’s polls. However, she said she is a “genuine voter”.Story continues below this adSunita (32), who stays in Kundli village, said she voted in 2024 and was not aware of any photograph mismatch on the voter roll.