More than 1.1 million duplicate entries have been found in Mumbai's new voter list. Many names were found to be registered multiple times, raising serious questions about electoral transparency and the timeline for BMC elections. Investigation and verification campaigns are ongoing.
Maharashtra: The new voter list released in Mumbai has exposed significant administrative shortcomings. Out of the city's 1.03 crore voters, approximately 10.64 percent, or more than 1.1 million people, have had their names registered multiple times. This revelation comes from a recent report shared by the Maharashtra State Election Commission, which has raised new questions about the transparency of the voter list and the reliability of the election process. Such a large number of duplicate names has caused a stir in political circles and significantly impacted administrative operations.
Major Revelation of Duplicate Entries
According to data released by the State Election Commission, the recently published draft voter list contains 433,000 names that have been duplicated from two to as many as 103 times. The total number of duplicate entries has reached 1,101,505. This situation not only indicates serious errors in data entry but also directly impacts the credibility of the electoral process. According to officials, this figure represents the total number of entries where names are repeated at different locations, not the number of unique individuals.
Reasons Stated for Duplicate Names
The Election Commission stated that there could be several reasons for names being registered multiple times, such as printing mistakes, voters shifting to other locations, and the failure to timely remove names of old and deceased voters from the list. Due to these errors, a large number of entries were duplicated, which has now become a challenge for the electoral system.
Officials said that booth-level workers will now conduct house-to-house verification, fill out forms, and obtain undertakings to ensure that only valid and unique names are included in the final list. This process is being carried out with strict oversight to prevent any negative impact on the upcoming elections.
Possible Impact on Mumbai Civic Elections
According to a senior SEC official, this discrepancy could impact Mumbai's civic elections. As per Supreme Court directives, elections were to be held by January 31, 2026, but given the slow pace of data cleaning and verification, a slight delay in the election schedule is possible. The official indicated that based on the BMC's progress, elections might be pushed to the end of January or the first week of February.
Status of Most Affected Wards
According to the released data, four out of the five wards with the highest number of duplicate voters were previously held by corporators from opposition parties, including Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP), which has intensified political debate. Two of these wards fall under the Worli assembly constituency, represented by Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray.
- Ward 199 in Worli found to have 8,207 duplicate voters
- Ward 131 in Ghatkopar with 7,741
- Ward 203 in Parel-Lalbaug with 7,624
- Ward 205 in Kalachowki with 7,585
- Ward 194 in Century Mill with 7,584 duplicate entries
Opposition leaders have raised serious objections to this entire process. Aaditya Thackeray claimed in an X post that millions of names are duplicated, addresses are incorrectly recorded, and even basic information on voter cards is inaccurate. He warned that if the period for suggestions and objections is not extended, doubts about election transparency will increase.
Correction Work Underway by BMC and SEC
Civic officials state that the process of removing duplicate names from the list is progressing rapidly. House-to-house verification is being conducted to ensure that not a single invalid or duplicated name remains on the list. All 25 Assistant Municipal Commissioners have been designated as nodal officers for this process. This campaign will run from November 27 to December 5, after which the final voter list will be released.
