Mumbai: 3.41 lakh duplicate voters just in western suburbs

Duplication of photos of Vasant Khimachand Mehta, 84, on at least two voter IDs

Ahead of the forthcoming BMC election, the Election Commission of India has found 3.41 lakh voter ID cards, with many having the photo of the same person, but under different names and addresses. These are just from areas between Bandra and Dahisar. Now, the EC has directed the citizens, including the elderly, to visit the office and prove their genuineness.

Failing this, their names will be removed from the voting list.

Officers said the face detection tech used by the EC caught the duplication. These machines match the photos automatically on the voter's portal. The portal showed eight-nine voter cards having the same photo, but different voter names and residential addresses.

Harish Bhojwani, 77, and his wife Poonam Bhojwani, 71

The election officers started sending notices to all the addresses on voter ID cards flagged by the EC, asking people to prove their identity. They have asked people to appear before the office with their documents at the allotted time or send their representatives, or their names would be deleted from the voting list. This has particularly inconvenienced the elderly citizens.

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Last week, around 8,000 residents of Khar, Bandra and Santacruz went sent notices from the EC, which asked them to present their proof at the Vidhan Sabha Election Sangh office in Khar West on Thursday, October 6.

On Thursday and Friday, mid-day visited several Electoral Registration offices and spoke to some of the genuine voters whose photo was used with others' details.

Voting since the 80s

Vasant Khimachand Mehta, 84, a retired lawyer from Santacruz who has been exercising her voting rights since the 80s, is among the voters who received the notice. His son Viral Mehta rushed to the Electoral Registration Office in Khar West to find out about it, and saw his father's photo alongside Sudhir Ramchandra Sandabhor from Khar West.

Same photo has been used in at least two voter ID cards in these photos

Viral Mehta, Vasant's son, asked, "My father has been voting consistently since the 80s. How is the election officer suddenly talking about removing his name from the list?"

He said the notice was dated September 23, but arrived only two-three days back. "They should give sufficient time, and instead visit the houses for verification. The election officer told me they did visit my house, but no one came. This is a threatening notice with a short notice of just one day."
"Moreover, they had given a personal email id--acmsd177@gmail.com--and not a government email id. I can't take my father to the office at this age, hence I went to represent him," he added.

‘Notice is threatening'

An elderly couple, Harish Bhojwani, 77, and his wife Poonam Bhojwani, 71, visited the Khar office on Thursday. Later, Harish told mid-day, "We live in Mumbai alone, and at this age, election officers called us to the office to prove whether we are genuine voters. This is total harassment, and the notice, warning to remove our names, had a threatening tone. Moreover, the notice was in Marathi language and we are unable to read and understand it."

"My wife had to come despite being sick. Last year, I was hospitalised for two-three months after a fall at home. In this condition, I am here to prove whether I am alive. They also claimed that they visited our house, but were told they do not live there. How is this possible? They are lying," Harish added.

Sumaiya Raghavan and her husband Radhakrishnan Raghavan, Bandra West residents, also visited the Khar office on Thursday.

Very short notice

"I received this notice only on Wednesday, stating that they will remove our name from the voting list if we are not present at the office on Thursday. It is a threatening notice. I have never missed a single election. I am assuming that what they are asking with this notice is only whether I am alive. I took leave today and visited the election office to prove that I am alive."

Nikhil Haria, 46, a Khar resident who works in travel business, said, "I received this notice at 1.30 pm on Thursday and immediately rushed to the election office. The officer told me that there are multiple entries in their system with my photos."

‘We are just helping'

Deputy Electoral Officer Sunil Mali, in charge of jurisdiction in Khar, Santacruz and Bandra, said, "We sent notices to around 13,900 citizens after the ECI sent us a report of duplication of photos. One photo was used in at least eight-nine voter IDs with different names. Our officers also visited their houses, but didn't find them. This notice is not a threat at all. These were sent out as per law. We are doing it to verify the genuine voters, so that they can cast their votes. People should not panic. We are here to help people."

Voter-Aadhaar linking

A senior election officer told mid-day that they have started a door-to-door campaign for the linking of voter ID and Aadhaar card. "It will stop any sort of duplication."

"During this drive, we also found that some have two voting cards; one of their village and another of Mumbai. They visit their village for voting, as they get money into their bank accounts under farmer schemes. According to the rules, this is not allowed. People caught voting at two places will be punished and their names will be removed from the voting list."

The officer also complained about poor reception during the campaign, saying some people abused them and cast doubts on their authenticity. "We are just doing our job. People should support us," he added.