As Maharashtra prepares for crucial municipal corporation elections, a significant flaw in the electoral machinery is causing widespread concern. Thousands of voters across the state are discovering their names duplicated on the voter lists, often linked to more than one polling station. This issue, reported across all 29 municipal corporations, threatens to create confusion on polling day and unfairly places the responsibility of verification on ordinary voters.
Voters Bear the Brunt of Administrative Lapses
A voter from Pune, who has participated in multiple elections, shared her frustrating experience. Her name continues to appear twice within the same ward, with two different polling stations assigned. "No election official contacted me or guided me on where exactly I should vote," she said. She warned that unless such cases are clearly resolved, voters will persistently face problems.
Another voter pointed out that while he managed to identify the correct polling booth by checking his EPIC card details, the very existence of the duplication was troubling. He questioned why the onus of cross-checking falls on citizens, asking, "Why can't election officials provide us with a clean and accurate voter list?" Several voters and political workers argue that these errors should have been corrected during the ward-wise micro-planning and electoral roll updates, well before the announcement of polling dates.
Staggering Scale of Duplication and Uneven Clean-Up
Data reveals the massive scope of the problem. Despite a large-scale clean-up drive initiated by the State Election Commission (SEC), a staggering 10.32 lakh duplicate or erroneous voter names remain on the electoral rolls across Maharashtra's municipal corporations. The SEC had originally flagged 23.91 lakh duplicate names. Of these, 13.58 lakh were removed, marking a 56.8% completion rate. However, a significant 43.18% of the cleanup work is still pending.
The progress in deleting these names varies dramatically from one civic body to another, painting a picture of administrative inconsistency:
- Solapur has completed virtually none of the clean-up, with 99.9% of flagged names still pending.
- Chandrapur (99.52%) and Jalna (98.95%) follow closely, showing minimal progress.
- Navi Mumbai, Parbhani, and Dhule have also removed less than 10% of the identified duplicate entries.
In contrast, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has made notable headway, with only 15.52% of the flagged work remaining. Yet, due to Mumbai's enormous electorate, the absolute number of unresolved duplicate names in the city is still around 1.7 lakh, highlighting the immense challenge.
Risk of Low Turnout and Poll-Day Chaos
SEC officials stated that the duplicate entries were identified during the micro-planning exercise. Civic election officers were instructed to use specialised software to delete names after proper verification. However, they admitted that several corporations have not yet finished this critical process.
Political workers and civil society activists have raised alarms, warning that uncorrected voter lists could not only cause arguments and delays at polling stations but also actively discourage voter participation. A civic activist explained the systemic failure: "The system is effectively pushing the responsibility onto voters. People will have to check their names online, confirm booth details, and physically reach the correct polling station. Any mismatch could result in voters simply returning home without casting their vote."
This situation underscores a critical preparedness gap as the state moves closer to elections, with the potential to undermine the democratic process if not addressed with urgency.
