Going through list to eliminate errors: Aaditya Thackeray

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray. FILE PIC/RANE ASHISH

Anomalies in Mumbai's electoral rolls continue to come to light. Former Mumbai Mayor Shraddha Jadhav's name appears repeatedly in the voter list, while Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Sunil Shinde's name, too, has been listed more than six times.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray stated that both his party and he were carefully going through the draft rolls published by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and alerting the Election Commission about duplicate names and discrepancies regarding ages, genders and addresses.

The Sena (UBT) MLA who represents the Worli constituency took a swipe at the functioning of the poll body while addressing the media in Mumbai on Tuesday, saying, "The Election Commission has turned into a circus."

During his interaction with the media, Thackeray Jr expressed concerns over votes being cast in the names of deceased voters. "While going through data from previous elections, we observed that votes have been polled in the names of people who are no more," Aaditya added.

While there were reports of around 11 lakh duplicate voters in the rolls, the Sena MLA claimed that the number was much higher than what had been talked about. "Our party workers are getting the list verified at the shakha level," he added.

The daft voter list for the BMC polls was released on November 20. However, several Opposition parties, especially Shiv Sena (UBT) and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), raised objections over the faulty list and demanded a 21-day extension for the entire process.

Deadline extensions

Admitting to errors in the list, last week the State Election Commission announced several extensions for key deadlines related to the draft voter lists ahead of the upcoming elections. The last date for submitting objections and corrections was extended from November 27 to December 3, 2025.

The processing of objections and publication of the final voter lists will now be done by December 10, instead of December 5. Similarly, the publication of voter lists at polling stations has been pushed from December 8 to December 15, while the final publication at polling stations will now take place on December 22, instead of December 12.

Elections to the BMC and 28 other civic bodies are scheduled to be completed by January 31, 2026, as per the deadline set by the Supreme Court to complete such polls across Maharashtra.

Political background

The last BMC elections were held in 2017, and the five-year term of elected corporators ended in 2022. For nearly 25 years, the Shiv Sena (undivided) and the BJP ruled the BMC together, but their alliance ended in 2017.