Duplicate names of Muslims in Maharashtra’s voter list run into lakhs !

2,25,791 duplicate Muslim names found across 31 Lok Sabha constituencies – Ashish Shelar, Minister for Cultural Affairs

Mumbai – “Leaders of the Maha Vikas Aghadi are pointing only to duplicate names of Hindu voters merely to appease Muslims. In the verification of voter lists across 31 Lok Sabha constituencies in the State, we found as many as 2,25,791 duplicate Muslim names,” said Maharashtra’s Minister for Cultural Affairs Ashish Shelar during a press conference on 3 November.

Shelar presented constituency-wise data of these duplicate Muslim names. He stated, “In the Lok Sabha elections, the Maha Vikas Aghadi secured 2,50,15,819 votes, while the Mahayuti alliance received 2,48,12,627 votes — a difference of 2,03,192 votes. The number of duplicate Muslim names found in Maharashtra’s 31 constituencies exceeds this margin. If the voter lists of all constituencies are verified, this figure will rise further.

In the Karjat-Jamkhed constituency, Rohit Pawar (Sharadchandra Pawar faction of the Nationalist Congress Party) won by 1,243 votes, while that constituency has 5,562 duplicate Muslim names. Nana Patole (Congress) won by 208 votes in his constituency, which has 477 duplicate Muslim names. In Beed, Sandeep Kshirsagar (Sharadchandra Pawar NCP) won by 5,424 votes, where 14,944 duplicate Muslim names were found. In Jitendra Awhad’s (Sharadchandra Pawar NCP) constituency, there are 30,601 such names. Jyoti Gaikwad (Congress) won in Dharavi, which has 10,689 duplicate Muslim names; Amin Patel’s (Congress) Mumbadevi constituency has 11,125; and in Vikhroli, represented by Sunil Raut (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray faction), there are 3,450 duplicate Muslim names.”

Shelar added that he has repeatedly met with the Chief Election Commissioner regarding this issue.

Editorial Perspectives

• How did the Election Commission fail to notice such a massive number of duplicate entries ?

• This is nothing but a mockery of the democratic system. The Government must investigate the conspiracy behind this and take strict action against those responsible !