A photo (here, here, here, here, and here) showing a voter list is going viral on social media, with claims that it shows a voter list published by the Election Commission of India. The posts go on to claim that the list includes a person named ‘Ramkamal Das’ in Uttar Pradesh who has 43 sons, all of whom live in the same house. Among them, 13 sons were reportedly born at the same time, and all are 37 years old. By sharing this photo, social media users are questioning the credibility of the ECI. In this article, let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: According to the voter list published by the Election Commission of India, a man named ‘Ramkamal Das’ in Uttar Pradesh has 43 sons, all of whom live in the same house.
Fact: This viral voter list was published during the Varanasi Municipal Corporation election in 2023 and belongs to Varanasi Municipal Corporation’s Ward No. 51 – Bhelupur. Swami Ramkamal Das Vedanti is the head priest of Ram Janaki Math. As per the Guru-Shishya tradition, the disciples of Guru Ramkamal Das have listed his name as their father in the voter list. On 12 March 2025, the Chief Electoral Officer of Uttar Pradesh also made a post on X(formerly Twitter) confirming the same. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
To verify the authenticity of the viral photo and the claim, we conducted a Google reverse image search which led us to multiple news reports (here, here) published in May 2023 featuring the same viral voter list. According to these reports, this voter list was published during the Varanasi Municipal Corporation election in 2023 and belongs to Varanasi Municipal Corporation’s Ward No. 51 – Bhelupur, where a man named Ramkamal Das has been listed as the father of 48 voters. As per these reports, Swami Ramkamal Das Vedanti is the Mahant of Ram Janki Math in Khojwa. Swami Ramkamal Das’s secretary, Rambharat, stated that the viral voter list is genuine. He further explained that their ashram follows the Guru-Shishya (teacher-disciple) tradition, in which followers of a Guru regard him as their father. Due to this tradition, the followers of Guru Ramkamal Das have also listed his name as their father in the voter list.
A news report published by Jagran on 05 May 2023 about this viral voter list stated that a voter list showed a man named Ramkamal Das as the father of 48 voters, all of who reside in the same house—House Number B, 24/19—went viral. Even the Samajwadi Party appealed to the District Election Officer to take cognisance of this matter. However, as soon as the truth was known, everyone remained silent. The report further stated that Swami Ramkamal Das Vedanti is the head priest of Ram Janaki Math Khojwan. After the voter list went viral, the Math Manager, Rambharat Shastri, explained that after joining the Guru-Shishya tradition, the disciples’ names are changed, and the Guru’s name is recorded in place of the father’s name. Earlier, 150 people had registered Swami Ji’s name as their father, but this number has now reduced to 48.
We then visited the State Election Commission website of Uttar Pradesh and found the voter list of Varanasi Municipal Corporation’s Ward No. 51 – Bhelupur, published during the municipal elections in 2023. After reviewing this voter list, we found that a total of 51 voters were listed under House Number B, 24/19, of which 48 voters had enrolled with Ramkamal Das as their father.
Additionally, we have found a clarification post by the Uttar Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer on 12 March 2025 regarding the viral voter list showing Ramkamal Das as the father of 48 voters. According to the post, the Electoral Roll shown in the photograph belongs to urban local body elections. The Electoral Roll used for urban local body elections is not prepared by the Election Commission of India. The electoral roll used in Assembly Elections and Lok Sabha Elections is prepared by the ECI and is a different electoral roll. The Uttar Pradesh CEO further mentioned that it is important to note that in the case of a religious Math/Ashram, the persons or sanyasis residing in it are identified by the name of their Guru instead of their father. It is also possible that many sanyasis residing in an ashram are of the same age.
To sum up, the voter list from the 2023 Varanasi municipal corporation elections showing Ramkamal Das as the father of 48 voters is being shared with a misleading claim.
