BMC Election Shock: Over 1.1 Million Duplicate Voters Found in Draft List!

by Webdesk
24 Nov 2025

Mumbai: A shocking revelation has surfaced in the voter database for the upcoming Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) election. The civic administration has detected 1.10 million repeated entries in the draft voters’ list — meaning the names of more than 10 lakh voters have appeared in more than one ward. These duplicate entries make up 10.6% of the total 10.34 million voters included in the draft list released on November 20.

According to officials from the State Election Commission (SEC), the unusually high number of repeated voter names has emerged because of Mumbai’s large migrant population and the absence of a special summary revision drive this year. To correct this, Booth-Level Officers (BLOs) have started visiting such voters personally to determine which polling booth they intend to cast their vote at, preventing any chances of bogus or double voting, SEC sources confirmed.

Last month, the SEC had instructed all urban bodies across Maharashtra to launch a special exercise to pinpoint voters whose names appear in more than one ward and to ensure that such voters are allowed to cast their vote only at a single designated polling centre.

In response, the BMC began a large-scale verification process and detected 1,101,505 duplicate voters out of the 10,344,315 voters listed across 227 wards. Region-wise analysis shows:

498,597 duplicate voters in the western suburbs (ward 1–170)
329,216 duplicate voters in the eastern suburbs (ward 103–171)
273,692 duplicate voters in the island city (wards 172–227)

An SEC official explained that Mumbai, along with Thane and Raigad, consistently records the highest number of repeated voter names due to high population mobility and rapid migration, coupled with the lack of revision this year.

BMC commissioner Bhushan Gagrani also acknowledged that the absence of deletions in the voter list contributed largely to the high number of duplicate entries. He added that the civic body is following SEC’s directives step-by-step to scrutinise and update the database.

As part of the clean-up initiative, the BMC — along with other poll-bound bodies — received special software tools from the SEC that automatically detect and flag repeated voter names. BLOs are then instructed to contact such individuals at their resident addresses and confirm the one booth at which they will vote. The officers managing the remaining booths where the voters’ names also appear will be directed not to permit them to vote if they arrive there.

Meanwhile, the issue has triggered major political reactions. Former Maharashtra minister and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray has alleged that the unusually large number of duplicate voters is not a coincidence but the result of a planned bogus voting strategy by the ruling parties.

He claimed that voters have been registered under questionable circumstances — including fake residential addresses, commercial shops, and even public restrooms — with over 10 voters listed under a single address in some cases. According to him, all of this is part of a deliberate “vote theft” (vote chori) racket.

Thackeray also raised concerns about discrepancies in publication dates of the draft voter list. He pointed out that while the BMC officially released the list on November 20, a Shiv Sena (UBT) worker got hold of a copy dated November 14. “Was a separate draft list prepared privately on November 14 for selected individuals? If the list was ready on the 14th, why was it published officially a week later?” Thackeray questioned, hinting at foul play. He further warned that more explosive details regarding the ‘anti-national’ actions of the SEC will be exposed in the coming days.

State government officials, meanwhile, have stated that the issue isn't limited to Mumbai alone. They estimate that across all poll-bound local bodies in Maharashtra, the total number of repeated voter entries is likely to exceed 2.5 million. According to draft documents, the total voter base stands at 98.49 million, with 1.47 million new voters added after the 2024 Assembly elections.

The cut-off date for voter registration in these local body elections was July 1, and political turbulence is expected to intensify as corrections in the voter list proceed.

Image Courtesy:

02 Jan 2026

BMC Elections

BMC Election Shock: Over 1.1 Million Duplicate Voters Found in Draft List!

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