A surprising fact has emerged from the list of duplicate voters released by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). After it was revealed that ward number 199 in Worli had the highest number of duplicate voters, it has now come to light that the name of former mayor Kishori Pednekar herself appears as a duplicate in this ward. Pednekar exposed the issue and criticised the Election Commission’s methods.
The voter list for the BMC elections, announced on November 20, flagged both duplicate and missing names. According to the list, there are 11 lakh duplicate names across 227 wards, with some names repeated not just twice or thrice but even hundreds of times. Around 4 lakh names appear multiple times across different wards. The highest number of duplicate entries were found in the Worli–Prabhadevi area, with 8,270 duplicate names in ward number 199 the ward represented by Pednekar. Her own name appears in the duplicate category, meaning she now has to fill out a verification form.
Pednekar criticised the process, saying that many voters are unaware of such requirements and that denying someone the right to vote simply for not filling a form is wrong. She challenged the authorities to show where her name appears a second time and asked why the Election Commission should not be held accountable if the issue is due to a printing error. She also questioned whether the mistake was intentional and demanded more days for voters to resolve such discrepancies.
Raising further concerns, Pednekar asked where and how this list was compiled. She expressed worry that such errors might even prevent people from voting on polling day. She accused both the State Election Commission and the Central Election Commission of shifting responsibility over allegations of voter list manipulation. Criticising the Commission, she said it now seems to decide who is a citizen and who gets to vote. She questioned where the “scandal” of preparing 11 lakh duplicate entries took place and demanded accountability.