Rohit Pawar Warns Voter Deletions in Maharashtra Could Reach 3 Crore
Nearly 2.07 crore enumeration forms were not collected, but officials attributed the uncollected forms to deceased, relocated, untraceable or duplicate entries.
Mumbai: NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar on Sunday claimed that nearly three lakh voters could be deleted from the electoral rolls under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Maharashtra.
He alleged that booth-level officers (BLOs) in some areas conducted “table surveys” instead of physically verifying voters, with information being supplied by BJP workers.
Mr. Pawar launched a sharp attack on Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, alleging that electoral authority has become increasingly centralised in Delhi and that Maharashtra’s voter rolls have been manipulated.
He claimed that decisions to add or delete voters are now being controlled centrally rather than at the constituency level.
Alleging that BLOs in districts including Pune, Nashik and Thane relied on “table surveys” supplied by BJP workers instead of conducting physical verifications, Mr Pawar claimed that the complaints raised with election officials over the process went unanswered.
He also raised concerns about Maharashtra’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, which covers 9.78 crore registered voters.
“Nearly 2.07 crore enumeration forms were not collected. But officials attributed the uncollected forms to deceased, relocated, untraceable or duplicate entries.
The number of deleted voters could eventually reach 3 crore 1.22 crore records are currently under scrutiny and could be removed from the rolls,” Mr. Pawar said.
The MLA further cited what he described as continuing administrative errors following the SIR process.
These included living voters being recorded as deceased, as well as discrepancies involving photographs and gender details.
He said he had submitted evidence of unverified records from his own Karjat-Jamkhed constituency to Maharashtra Chief Electoral Officer S. Chockalingam.
Referring to the upcoming delimitation exercise, Mr. Pawar argued that the combination of delimitation and the SIR process posed serious concerns for electoral representation.
He alleged that the BJP was seeking to reshape the electoral landscape ahead of the 2029 elections and said the country was “moving towards Russia”.
Mr. Pawar also alleged that 40–50 lakh voters had been added between the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in 2024 through Form 6, and warned that a similar pattern could recur.
He called for opposition parties to unite and for a broader public movement to protect voting rights and constitutional reservations.
Backing protests against CEC Gyanesh Kumar, Mr. Pawar also called for the agitation to include demands for the abolition of EVMs, greater electoral transparency and stronger technological safeguards.
