BMC polls: Shiv Sena (UBT) claims 32k names added to voter list after deadline

MLA Aaditya Thackeray said his party would expose what he described as a “scam” involving deceased people voting during last year’s assembly elections

Mumbai: Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray on Tuesday alleged that more than 32,000 names were added to Mumbai’s electoral rolls after the July 1 registration deadline for the upcoming civic elections.

Thane, India - April 05, 2023: Aaditya Thackeray speaks during the Janprakshobh Morcha, a protest rally by MVA activists from Shivsena (UBT), NCP and Congress, against Thane Police for its failure to take action against the culprits who assaulted UBT woman activist Roshni Shinde, from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Ground to Thane Police Commissionerate Office, at Kharkar Ali Ground, in Thane, India, on Wednesday, April 05, 2023. (Praful Gangurde/HT Photo) (HT PHOTO)

Addressing a press conference, the Worli MLA claimed that, according to his party’s calculations, the number of duplicate voters in Mumbai is around 1.4 million—about 300,000 more than the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) estimate of 1.1 million. He also said his party would expose what he described as a “scam” involving deceased people voting during last year’s assembly elections.

“Is someone doing proxy voting in their names? Who will answer for all this? We have already submitted a letter. But if needed, we will launch a movement,” he said.

Thackeray said Shiv Sena (UBT) office-bearers have been verifying the draft voter lists across the city and have identified numerous irregularities. He cited examples of duplicate entries, including Sena (UBT) MLC Sunil Shinde’s name allegedly appearing seven times with different ages and photographs, and former mayor Shraddha Jadhav’s name appearing eight times.

He raised concerns over the alleged addition of over 32,000 names to the electoral rolls after the registration deadline. “The election commission will have to answer who added these names and for whom,” he said.

Challenging the official estimate of duplicate voters, Thackeray said: “As per BMC estimates, 11 lakh duplicate voters were registered. However, after our verification drive, it’s estimated that there are 14 lakh duplicate voters registered in the draft voter list. We have registered around 3,000-4,000 objections in each ward of BMC. We hope their names will be dropped.”

Thackeray also claimed that some of the Booth Level Officers (BLOs) deployed to verify the electoral rolls were illiterate. “People who can’t read the list are coming for verification. Are you making fun of us? Has the election commission become a circus?” he said.

Reacting to Thackeray’s remarks, BMC commissioner Bhushan Gagrani said that the civic body is only looking into the 1.1 million duplicate names marked by the State Election Commission and would act only on formal objections.

“We have undertaken the drive to remove duplicate voters that were marked by the election commission. We are not doing any further verification on our own. But we will verify the names pointed out in written objections filed as per the process,” he said.