SEC asks local govt bodies to identify duplicate voters in electoral rolls

The SEC has initiated a drive to identify voters registered in multiple wards to prevent duplicate voting ahead of local polls in Maharashtra.

MUMBAI: Days after the Opposition levelled allegations of anomalies in the electoral rolls, which largely have names repeatedly registered in multiple wards, the State Election Commission (SEC) has written to the local bodies to undertake a special drive to identify such voters and ensure that they vote at only one booth. This means that voters registered multiple times will have to choose one booth and give an undertaking that they will not vote at any other.

Mumbai, India - Oct. 14, 2025: Jitendra Awhad, Uddhav Thackeray, Aditya Thackeray and Raj Thackeray, after meeting CEO and State election commissioner, regarding local self-government body and municipal corporation elections, at Mantralaya in Mumbai, India, on Tuesday, October 14, 2025. (Photo by Anshuman Poyrekar/Hindustan Times) (Anshuman Poyrekar/HT Photo)

The SEC, in its primary assessment, has found that many voters, especially in the urban bodies, have registered themselves in multiple wards, and in the absence of a Special Summary Revision this year, the names continue to exist. Opposition parties, in a meeting with the SEC and state’s chief electoral officer two weeks ago, demanded a postponement of the local body polls until the electoral rolls were cleaned up.

“There are voters who have registered themselves in various constituencies without deleting their name from the areas where they no longer reside,” said an official from the SEC. “Our software can identify them. The booth-level officers (BLOs) will visit such voters and ask them where they intend to vote. As per the choice, the authorities in the remaining wards will be intimated about the duplicate entries of the voter in order to avoid bogus voting.”

Such voters will be notified in the ‘marked copy of an electoral roll’, which is referred to by the presiding officer of every booth. “When such voters approach the polling booth, they will be asked to give an undertaking that they will not vote at other booths,” said the officer. “If the undertaking has already been given to the block-level officers (BLOs), there will be no need for one at the polling booth. The local bodies have also been asked to take action against the voters and even officers if the rules are violated.”

Another officer from the urban development department said that the local bodies would have to begin the drive immediately so that it was completed before the actual voting was conducted. “The issue of duplicate voters is largely in big cities like Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai,” he said. “The machinery will get ample time to rectify matters, as the corporation elections are expected to be held in January.”

The officer said that the problem of multiple entries existed as no Special Summary Revision had been held in the state this year. He said that the SSR ensured the deletion of duplicate voters from the electoral rolls, as BLOs verified the existence of the voters at the given address.