BMC polls: Thackeray cousins demand 21-day objection window for draft voter list

The cousins claimed that thousands of voters had been shifted to other municipal wards and that there were more than one million duplicate entries in Mumbai

Mumbai: Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray on Monday wrote to the State Election Commission (SEC) alleging serious anomalies in the draft voters’ list for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation elections, which was released on November 20.

BMC polls: Thackeray cousins demand 21-day objection window for draft voter list

The cousins claimed that thousands of voters had been shifted to other municipal wards and that there were more than one million duplicate entries in Mumbai. They demanded a 21-day window, instead of seven, to file objections to the draft list and said the polls should not be held until corrections are made.

A delegation from the two parties, including Aaditya Thackeray and Anil Parab from the Shiv Sena (UBT) and Bala Nandgaonkar from the MNS, met state election commissioner (SEC) Dinesh Waghmare to submit the letter. No leader from the two other major opposition parties, NCP (SP) and Congress, was present with them.

Speaking to the media after the meeting, Aaditya Thackeray said that both parties had begun scrutinising the draft voter list and found that 697,000 voters in Mumbai have no house number, while 26,319 homes were collectively registered with 800,000 voters.

“These are huge numbers. We want the SEC to rectify the voters’ list before the elections, and give us and the people 21 days to raise objections,” said Thackeray, adding that there were 6,076 voters with a listed age of below 18 or above 100. When asked about the SEC’s response, the Worli MLA said Waghmare assured them that the matter would be looked into.

During the meeting, Parab cited ward 162 in Saki Naka as an example, presenting a map to show that around 6,000 voters living in buildings at the centre of the ward had been moved to ward 163. “One can understand if the names of some voters living on the boundaries of the two wards were shifted to other areas. But how is it possible to shift thousands of voters living in the middle of one ward to another ward?” he said, alleging that this had been done deliberately to help the ruling parties.

Parab said the main demands listed in the joint letter from Uddhav and Raj Thackeray were extending the objection period to 21 days or cancelling the elections until the list is corrected, and accepting most of the objections filed. He also flagged concerns about the misuse of Annexure B—the affidavit used for single-time voting for individuals listed in multiple locations—saying that holding the local body polls in a phased manner would allow such voters to cast votes in different elections, and the SEC should take measures to prevent this.

The letter also slammed the SEC for not doing its job and compromising its autonomy. “You will publish a voters’ list on December 5, 2025 and satisfy yourself by saying that we have done everything as per the rules. But the people of Maharashtra know that you are not honest about your work at all. You call yourself an autonomous system, then show your autonomy,” it said.