CALLS are growing in Maharashtra for a voter list revision, with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis now lending his weight.
After the Opposition kept up its allegations of irregularities in the electoral rolls, Fadnavis said during a Diwali gathering at his residence that he accepted that there were problems and, therefore, a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) on the lines of Bihar was the need of the hour.
“We want an SIR in Maharashtra. There are problems with the electoral rolls, and even we have been raising them. But while the Opposition says there are problems, it opposes an SIR,” he said.
Earlier too, after Opposition delegations met state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) S Chockalingam and State Election Commissioner (SEC) Dinesh Waghmare to raise their concerns, particularly in light of the local body polls ahead, the CM said an SIR could be held.
The ball now appears to be in the SEC’s court. The Indian Express reported earlier that the SEC has conveyed to the Election Commission of India that it cannot hold an SIR in Maharashtra until January 2026, or till after the much-delayed local body polls, which have to be completed by then as per the Supreme Court’s directives. The EC plans to roll out a nation-wide SIR.
In its meetings with poll officials, Opposition parties have asked why a revision of electoral rolls could not be carried out in Maharashtra if the same was done in Bihar in a very tight frame before the Assembly elections, with some also asking for voting to be conducted using ballot papers.
In a letter to state poll officials, the Opposition said the EC should ensure that there were VVPATs for all EVMs in Mumbai. “If the EC cannot provide VVPATs to Mumbai, then we demand that elections in Mumbai (municipal corporation) be held on ballot papers.”
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Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray has demanded that “the local body polls not be held until mistakes in voters’ lists are rectified”, while Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray has said there is no harm in postponing the local body polls by a few months to compile an “error-free” voters’ list. The Thackeray cousins are exploring an alliance for the civic elections.
The Congress and NCP (SP) have demanded that the voters’ lists be “scrutinised” to clear any problems. “The Congress party had even registered formal complaints with the Election Commission during the Assembly elections (last year). But no cognizance of it was taken. Why is it that the SEC is going ahead with the same faulty voters’ lists?” said Vijay Wadettiwar, the Congress Legislative party leader.
In a press conference last month where he detailed his “vote chori” allegations, one of the constituencies mentioned by senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was Rajura in Maharashtra’s Chandrapur district, saying 6,850 “fake online additions” had been made to its voters’ list ahead of the 2024 Assembly polls.
Rajura was one of the Assembly segments where the voting pattern saw a drastic change within months, between the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and Assembly polls in Maharashtra. In the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP lost the Chandrapur seat by 2.6 lakh votes, losing from all its six Assembly segments. In Rajura Assembly segment, the BJP trailed the Congress by 58,349 votes.
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In the Assembly polls, however, the BJP won Rajura narrowly by 3,000-plus votes.
NCP (SP) MLA Jayant Patil said the party has “consistently been giving evidence of problems in voters’ lists”, but has seen no effort to rectify the same. “We are sure that the bogus voters (in the lists) have been included by unfair means. It is the duty of the poll body to find out the truth,” Patil said.
A senior official in the Maharashtra CEO said they have approached the EC. “The demand (of Opposition parties) to undertake a Special Summary Revision of electoral rolls has been conveyed.”
Unlike an SIR, a Special Summary Revision of voter lists is routinely held prior to elections, with the aim of adding newly eligible voters, including those who have reached 18 years of age or changed their constituency. It also involves the elimination of duplicate and deceased voters.
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The SIR in Bihar came under scrutiny for seeking documents even from existing voters, and for appearing to be a test of citizenship.
