Mumbai: Prabhadevi, the place where ghosts go to vote

Thanks to a goof-up, the area now has 3,400 ghost voters who aren't part of the ward's official population but are on the voter list

Congress corporator Sheetal Mhatre (Dahisar)

The upcoming Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections are already proving to be a thriller, with ghost voters and all. Why, Prabhadevi alone has nearly 3,400 ghost voters.

Thanks to a goof-up while preparing the voter list after the delimitation of wards, ward 194 — Prabhadevi — now has a registered population of 58,160 citizens. And yet, somehow the number of citizens on the voting list for this ward is much higher, at 61,557.

Numbers game?
"This is absolute manipulation by the election department under the pressure of ruling parties. The change in ward boundaries was done to benefit the Sena and BJP. If a ward has a population of 58,000 then how can the numbers of voters be higher? It will definitely lead to opportunities for bogus voting. This error should be investigated and the election should be stayed meanwhile," said Congress corporator Sheetal Mhatre (Dahisar).

Mhatre has written to the election commission about the irregularity and warned about the danger of bogus voting. "These is just the example of one ward — I am sure such mistakes are happening in other wards too," she alleged, pointing out another irregularity in Dahisar.

During the delimitation exercise, the election department had sought to divide wards so each would have a population range of 45,000 to 55,000. "But in ward number 1 (Dahisar), the population is 24,000, which is below the average. Also, in my ward, the names of several locals have been shunted to the voter list for another ward altogether. My brother had applied for new voter ID, but when he got it, his name was also printed wrong," she said.

List is final
A senior civic official from the election department told mid-day, "If there was any problem, people should have come while the window for suggestions and objections was still open. The voter list was prepared on the basis of data provided by Election Commission of India. Now we can not do anything since the list is finalised."

The BMC polls are scheduled for February 21 and results will be declared on February 23.

58,160
Population in Prabhadevi, according to state election commission

61,557
Number of citizens on voter list in Prabhadevi ward

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