ECI Prepares Rebuttal to Opposition’s Voter Roll Claims
The office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) has also issued show cause notices to several district authorities following the detection of anomalies in the electoral rolls.
Mumbai: The state branch of the Election Commission of India (ECI) is preparing a response to concerns raised by a delegation of opposition parties regarding the voter lists. The delegation met with Maharashtra Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) S. Chokalingam and State Election Commission Chief Dinesh Waghmare over the past two days.
According to sources, several of the claims made by the delegation have been found to be inaccurate. For example, while it was alleged that some voters’ names appeared in multiple locations, officials say these names had already been deleted, and the delegation may have referred to an outdated version of the voter list.
Additionally, the Maharashtra CEO is reportedly planning to implement corrective measures to address and rectify any anomalies in the voter list.
The delegation included Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray, senior Congress leaders Balasaheb Thorat and Vijay Wadettiwar, and NCP (SP)’s state chief Shashikant Shinde, along with Jayant Patil. They presented what they claimed to be evidence of multiple irregularities in the voter lists ahead of the 2024 Assembly elections. These included incomplete voter addresses, incorrect house numbers, names of individuals not residing in the constituency, and instances where hundreds of voters were listed under a single address.
A source in the office of the Maharashtra Chief Electoral Officer said that a communication was sent to the Election Commission of India (ECI) on October 14, requesting a Special Summary Revision (SSR) in the state. The move aims to facilitate the inclusion of first-time voters who may have missed enrolment due to the absence of the drive. “The ECI has also been urged to implement technological upgrades to enable the prompt removal of duplicate entries from the electoral rolls. Additionally, the CEO’s office informed the central poll body about representations submitted by several opposition parties regarding discrepancies in the voter lists,” the source said.
The office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) has also issued show cause notices to several district authorities following the detection of anomalies in the electoral rolls. These irregularities include cases of voters registered in multiple constituencies, multiple registrations at the same address, and discrepancies in voters’ ages, among other issues.
A senior official from the poll body said, “In the case of Jayashri Mehta, who was registered in both Charkop and Dahisar, and Mohan Nanda Bislava, whose names appeared in Bhandup and Vikhroli across three different constituencies, their names in two constituencies have already been deleted in December 2024 and April 2025 respectively. However, the delegation, who had come up with the complaints, did not have an updated copy of the voter list.”
