Confused about who your candidates are? Kandivali student launches tracker to help voters

Ansh Shetty, a fourth-year computer engineering student at Thakur College, has launched MumbaiTracker.in, a website that compiles and presents details of candidates contesting across Mumbai’s 277 wards, making it easier for citizens to quickly find, assess and compare those seeking civic office

MUMBAI: With just two days to go for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections on January 15, a 21-year-old Kandivali-based engineering student has built a new digital tool to help Mumbai voters make a more informed choice at the ballot box.

Confused about who your candidates are? Kandivali student launches tracker to help voters

Ansh Shetty, a fourth-year computer engineering student at Thakur College, has launched MumbaiTracker.in, a website that compiles and presents details of candidates contesting across Mumbai’s 277 wards, making it easier for citizens to quickly find, assess and compare those seeking civic office.

The platform lists candidates’ names, party affiliations (including independents), educational qualifications, declared criminal cases and stated promises. A side-by-side comparison feature allows voters to evaluate candidates on these parameters in a single view. Users can explore the information through a search bar or by navigating an interactive ward-wise map of Mumbai, clicking on a ward reveals the full list of candidates contesting from that constituency, along with their details.

While the database is not exhaustive, Shetty said he has compiled information for around 650 candidates, largely from major political parties. The data has been sourced mainly from election affidavits and documents available on the BMC website, which he has manually extracted and organised.

“The idea came from frustration,” Shetty said. “I wanted to know about the candidates in my own ward, and it took an unreasonable amount of time to locate affidavits and basic details. The data exists, but it’s buried under layers. Many people don’t even know how many candidates are contesting in their ward.”

Shetty also questioned how civic authorities present election-related information online, arguing that the current format makes it harder for citizens to engage. “Most affidavits are manually scanned and uploaded. Why can’t we have proper digital copies?” he asked, describing the BMC’s election data presentation as “shabby”.

A key motivation behind the initiative, he added, was to improve accessibility for English-educated and first-time voters in Mumbai. Much of the official material, Shetty noted, is available only in Marathi, which can become a barrier for many residents in a city as linguistically diverse as Mumbai.

After an Instagram reel announcing MumbaiTracker.in went viral, Shetty said he received messages from users who felt the website helped them make a more informed voting decision by giving them a clearer picture of who their candidates are and what they stand for.

The data, he said, also throws up uncomfortable realities about the kind of candidates being fielded in local elections. “We are electing candidates to deliver basic civic amenities—roads, water, sanitation. That requires administrative understanding,” Shetty said. “But the website clearly shows candidates who haven’t passed even Class 2.”

The project has not been free of criticism. Some users pointed out on Instagram that the ward map embedded on the site appears to be outdated. Shetty acknowledged the issue and said he is working on replacing it with the latest official map. He maintained that the candidate data itself is “99% accurate”, compiled manually, and welcomed corrections where mistakes are flagged.

Shetty said MumbaiTracker.in is not meant to remain a one-election experiment. Beyond the current polls, he plans to expand it into a grievance redressal platform, allowing citizens to directly contact their elected corporators. He also intends to upload the official email addresses of all winning corporators once results are declared.