The Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) on Sunday, December 28, completed a comprehensive verification exercise to identify and scrutinise potential repeat voters in the January 15 civic polls.
As many as 83,645 voters flagged as potential repeat voters were examined in detail during the verification of the electoral rolls. Of the total, 16,574 voters were marked as ‘duplicate’ after their names and photographs appeared more than once in the electoral rolls by the Thane election department.
After scrutiny, officials found that in 67,071 cases, the names and photographs did not match, ruling them out as duplicates. In view of these verification findings, the star mark appearing against such names will be removed, said Deputy Commissioner (Elections) Umesh Birari.
This would ensure these voters can exercise their franchise without any inconvenience or restriction on polling day, he added.
"The verification process confirmed 16,574 voters as genuine repeat voters, as their names and photographs were found to be identical in the electoral rolls. The star mark against the names of such voters will be retained. Their names will be clearly stamped as 'repeat voter' in the voter list," Birari was quoted as saying in the release.
Such voters would be allowed to vote only after submitting a written undertaking in the prescribed format at the polling station, declaring that they are voting at the same location and only once, he said.
"Special attention will be paid to these voters to prevent any possibility of double voting. Polling officials will closely monitor the process. The verification drive was undertaken to uphold transparency in the electoral process, prevent double or bogus voting, and safeguard the rights of genuine voters," the release further mentioned.
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