Amid Opposition’s ‘vote chori’ allegations, NCP conducts surveys and finds 12,000 duplicate voters in Pune’s Bhosari seat

“We have submitted the names of duplicate voters found in four prabhags of the Bhosari area. They were found during our surveys in different areas of the Bhosari Assembly constituency,” NCP leader Ajit Gavahane told The Indian Express.

Gavahane said they found the duplicate names after scanning the voters’ list. “These duplicate voters are traced through their names, the names of their family members, and the photos. It is a big exercise. We have repeatedly scanned the voters’ list,” he said.

“These 12,000 names needed to be deleted. So far, we have traced the repeat voters only in four prabhags, but we believe that there are more than 1 lakh repeat voters in the Bhosari Assembly constituency,” he added.

The NCP leader said that all their former corporators and leaders have been tasked with the job of scanning the voters’ list and identifying duplicate names. In some cases, he said, they found that voters had multiple voter identity cards.

‘Just the tip of the iceberg’

Gavahane said they have submitted the names of the duplicate voters, along with proof of their residence and photos, to the election office located at the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) headquarters in Pimpri.

“We have asked them to delete these votes from the voters’ list. Actually, the State Election Commission has issued guidelines to all election offices in the state to delete the names of repeat voters. The election office should delete the names of the repeat voters before publishing the draft voters list,” he said.

Gavahane said the NCP has undertaken the exercise throughout the Pune district.

“Since I had contested the Assembly elections in Bhosari, we have been quick to undertake the exercise to weed out wrong names and duplicate names… The voters’ list has ballooned because people who have shifted their residences have not had their names removed from the list where they previously lived. Besides, some local leaders also succeeded in getting fake names in the voters’ list,” he said.

BJP leader Sarang Kamtekar stated that the State Election Commission issued orders on July 16 and October 27, instructing local election officials to identify repeat voters, meet with them, and inquire about the areas they wished to retain their names.

“Accordingly, the election offices were asked to act as per the view expressed by the voters. In case the voter refuses to respond, local elections officials were instructed to register his name in the voters’ list as a duplicate. And when he comes to vote, take an undertaking from him and only then allow him to vote,” Kamtekar said.

“After the submission of the repeat names to PCMC by NCP, the local election officials will have to meet the concerned voters and verify their identities. The investigation of the NCP is just the tip of the iceberg. Actually, the figure of repeat voters is higher across the Bhosari constituency.”

Kamtekar said in Indrayani Nagar ward, they had so far found 6,000 repeat voters. “Our exercise is still going on,” he said.