Bachchans' names on voters list of a place they never visited

Superstar Amitabh Bachchan has never visited Basti district in Uttar Pradesh and neither have wife Jaya and son Abhishek.

His estranged brother Ajitabh may have never even heard of Basti.

Yet all four of them figure in the voter list of Basti for the ongoing panchayat elections, according to a report in a local daily.

The Bachchans, according to the voter list in Basti, live in ward No 24 in Pikaura Dattu Rai locality and their address is given as "House No 13 Khair colony, behind State Bank".

The family is listed from serial no 112 to 115 which says Amitabh (65), son of Harivansh Rai, Ajitabh (55) son of Harivansh Rai, Jaya (53), wife of Amitabh and Abhishek (30), son of Amitabh.

A physical verification of the address after the news report was published has revealed that it is bogus and house No 13 does not exist in Pikaura Dattu Rai locality.

Local officials are now at pains to explain the presence of the Bachchan family in the voters' list.

A senior official said that since the voter list did not include the surname Bachchan, it could be a simple coincidence.

However, Madan Chandra Dubey, a district official, admitted the lapse and has ordered an inquiry into it.

"We get the voters' list verified by teachers and we are now investigating this matter. If anyone has done this deliberately, he will be duly punished," he said.