Mumbai, Nov 24 (IANS) The draft electoral roll published by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) ahead of the upcoming elections has revealed more than 11 lakh duplicate voter entries across the city.

The findings come at a time when Shiv Sena (UBT), Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) and the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) have intensified their criticism of alleged irregularities in the voter lists, including duplicate and bogus entries and concerns over potential vote theft.

According to the draft rolls, a total of 1,101,505 duplicate voter entries have been identified in the city. In a significant number of cases — estimated at around 100,000 — an individual’s name appears at three or four different locations. The western suburbs account for the highest concentration of such entries, followed by the eastern suburbs and the island city. The distribution of duplicate voter entries is uneven across Mumbai’s regions.

The western suburbs contain 498,597 duplicate entries, making this the most affected zone. The eastern suburbs follow with 329,216 duplicate entries, while the island city has 273,692 such entries.

The scale and geographic spread of these irregularities pose a major challenge for the election administration ahead of the Mumbai municipal corporation elections. Addressing and rectifying these entries before polling will be critical to maintaining the integrity of the electoral process.

According to BMC data, Mumbai currently has a total of 10,344,315 registered voters. Of these, 5,516,707 are male voters and 4,826,509 are female voters. Within this overall electorate, the presence of more than 11 lakh duplicate entries has raised serious concerns regarding the accuracy and reliability of the rolls.

The State Election Commission and the BMC now face the dual responsibility of cleansing the rolls and ensuring that ineligible or duplicate entries do not influence the outcome of the forthcoming municipal elections.

The draft electoral rolls also indicate that a limited number of wards carry particularly large voter populations. In the R (Central) Ward, covering Borivali, Ward No. 15 has 61,361 registered voters. In the K (West) Ward, which includes Andheri West, Jogeshwari West, and Vile Parle West, Ward No. 66 has 61,518 voters. In the N Ward (Ghatkopar), Ward No 131 has 62,014 voters, while in the L Ward, Ward No 164 has 60,094 voters. All remaining wards in the city have fewer than 60,000 registered voters each.

The last date for filing objections and suggestions regarding entries in the electoral roll is November 27. The BMC published the draft list on its website on November 20, and duplicate entries have been specifically marked to facilitate scrutiny and correction.

Duplicate voters will be allowed to have surplus entries removed during the objection period. The BMC is scheduled to publish the final electoral roll on December 5. On polling day, if a person marked as a duplicate voter appears to vote, the authorities are expected to obtain an affidavit from the individual affirming that they have not cast a vote at any other location.

–IANS

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