More than 2 crore electors have been left out of Maharashtra’s draft electoral roll following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), according to election officials.
The draft voter list for all 288 Assembly constituencies was published on Monday and contains 7,71,65,562 electors. This is 78.86% of Maharashtra’s earlier voter base of 9,78,54,049.
The revised draft includes 3,95,89,905 male voters, 3,75,72,570 female voters and 3,087 voters registered under the third-gender category.
According to election authorities, 2,06,88,487 electors were not included in the draft because their enumeration forms could not be collected.
Officials cited several reasons for the exclusions. These include voters being absent or untraceable at their registered addresses, shifting to another location, being deceased, having duplicate or multiple registrations, or being registered at another place. The list also includes voters who did not complete or submit their enumeration forms.
Pune recorded the highest number of enumeration forms that could not be collected, at around 28.6 lakh. Thane followed with approximately 28.5 lakh, while Mumbai Suburban had 26.5 lakh. Nagpur recorded 14.43 lakh, Nashik 10.27 lakh and Mumbai City around 9.5 lakh.
The publication of the draft list has now opened a claims and objections period for voters whose names are missing.
Claims and objections process
Voters can submit claims and objections between August 31 and September 30. Those seeking inclusion in the electoral roll can submit Form 6 along with the required declaration.
Objections against entries can be filed through Form 7, while corrections involving details such as name, address, age or gender can be requested using Form 8.
Election authorities have appointed 288 Electoral Registration Officers and more than 7,000 Assistant Electoral Registration Officers across Maharashtra’s 288 Assembly constituencies.
The claims, objections and notice process is scheduled to continue until October 29. The final electoral roll is expected to be published on November 4, according to the Election Commission’s timetable.
The large-scale exclusions have also triggered a political controversy, with the Congress linking the development to its earlier allegations concerning Maharashtra’s voter rolls.
Congress leader Pawan Khera said the latest figures supported Rahul Gandhi’s previous allegations of “vote chori” and questioned why concerns raised by the party about changes in voter numbers between the 2024 Lok Sabha and Maharashtra Assembly elections had previously been dismissed.
Khera also referred to the Congress’s claim that nearly 40 lakh voters had been added between the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in 2024.
He questioned why such a large number of voters were now absent from the draft list if the earlier electoral roll had been accurate.
The Congress has used the latest figures to renew its allegations against the BJP and the Election Commission, while the current draft list remains subject to claims, objections and verification before the final electoral roll is published.
The exclusion of more than 2 crore names from the draft list therefore does not by itself mean that all those voters have been permanently removed. Eligible voters can seek inclusion during the claims and objections process, after which the electoral authorities will finalise the roll.
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