BJP’s Mumbai unit chief Ashish Shelar has complained to the state election commissioner against the alleged manipulation of voters list in Mumbai at the behest of the ruling parties. He has alleged that in BJP-dominated areas, maximum numbers of voter names were struck off the rolls.
Mr Shelar alleged that in the name of revisions to voters list in Mumbai, manipulations are going on by way of deleting names of valid voters. This was more prominent in segments where the Opposition had a stronghold.
He also gave some examples to substantiate his claims. “Congress has a stronghold in Mankhurd Assembly and until now, only 786 names were deleted, while in BJP stronghold Mulund constituency, 35,714 voters were struck off the electoral rolls,” said Mr Shelar.
Senior BJP leader Kirit Somaiya has also joined Mr Shelar and said that the deletion is extreme in Opposition stronghold areas, but negligible in Congress-dominated segments.
The state election commission has been deleting names from voters list after conducting house-to-house survey to identify voters.
Mr Shelar said that in Khar and Bandra, names of 16 persons were deleted, despite the fact that they were still residing at the specified address. “We have complaint to the SEC and it has assured us it will probe the issue,” said Mr Somaiya.