Maharashtra MLA Warns Electoral Roll Review Could Exclude More Voters

Maharashtra MLA Rohit Pawar has claimed that the number of voters deleted or left out during the state’s Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls could rise from 2.07 crore to nearly 3 crore. Speaking at a press conference in Mumbai, Pawar alleged irregularities in the verification process and questioned the way electoral records were being reviewed. His claims were reported by The Hindu.

Official data released during the revision showed that Maharashtra had 9.78 crore registered voters, while enumeration forms for 2.07 crore voters had not been collected. The report said officials attributed such cases to voters being dead, untraceable, permanently shifted or listed more than once. Pawar said 1.22 crore records remained under scrutiny and argued that some of those voters could ultimately be excluded.

He also alleged that booth-level officers in some places had conducted “table surveys” instead of physical verification, while information was supplied by BJP workers. He said such instances had emerged in Pune, Nashik and Thane and questioned why complaints had not prompted action. Pawar said he had submitted evidence and suggestions to Maharashtra Chief Electoral Officer S.

Chockalingam concerning verification in his Karjat-Jamkhed constituency. The MLA further alleged that records still contained errors, including cases in which living people were marked as dead and photographs or gender details did not match voter information. He said decisions had been centralised through a system based in Delhi.

Pawar also claimed that 40-50 lakh voters had been added through Form 6 between the Lok Sabha and assembly elections. He called for wider opposition to the revision and greater transparency, including technological safeguards and changes to the electronic voting system. The report presents these as Pawar’s allegations.

It does not include a response from the Election Commission or the Maharashtra chief electoral officer.