In Mumbai North East Lok Sabha constituency, names of dead people make it to voters’ list

Lok Sabha Elections 2019: During voting in Mumbai on April 29, 2019, while the names of many dead people were still in the votees’ list, in other cases, some voters found their names registered in two constituencies.

Ghatkopar East resident Ajay More’s father, Bhaskar More, died eight months ago. Despite all efforts since then to get Bhaskar’s name removed from the voters’ list, Ajay found his father’s name registered when he went to vote on Monday.

People stand in a line to cast their vote at Jogeshwari in Mumbai, on Monday, April 29, 2019. (Satyabrata Tripathy/HT Photo)

This is not an isolated incident – according to Ajay, there were 50 such instances in the Mumbai North East Lok Sabha constituency. “When officials came to the area for the survey in March, we had given them a list of all those who expired. But these names still appeared in the list, at the cost of those who are living.”

Arkash Sonawane, 53, has been trying to get his daughter-in-law Manisha’s name enrolled in the list for over a year. While he has been unsuccessful in this pursuit, he did receive a voter’s slip in the name of his mother, Parvati, who died in 2015.Other names that featured in the list on Monday: resident Gautam Gade’s deceased mother Tulsabai Gade, and Yashwant Kharat’s mother Parvati Kharat, who died in 2016.

Meanwhile, some voters found their names registered in two constituencies. Babban Nimbalkar said, “I got voter slips for my parents for Mumbai North East as well as Akola. Is this a way of getting bogus votes?” More and Nimbalkar plan to approach the Election Commission over the issue.

“In Mumbai, we get the list of deceased from the civic body and then we delete their names. However, in case a citizen dies outside the city, then it is up to the family to inform us,” said an electoral officer from Ghatkopar.