Mumbai: In a bid to prevent duplicate and bogus voting in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls, the Thackeray alliance has announced a joint squad of workers from the Shiv Sena (UBT) and MNS, called as Bhagwa (Saffron) Guards, who will keep a watch on such voters on the polling day for civic polls on January 15. There are over 11 lakh duplicate voters in Mumbai.
Shiv Sena UBT leader Sanjay Raut said, the saffron guards will take to the streets on the poll day to prevent duplicate and bogus voting. These saffron guards will be stationed at polling booths and will apprehend suspected duplicate and bogus voters, preventing them from casting their votes. The Thackeray brothers’ parties have trained approximately 2,000 office-bearers to perform this task.
Raut’s announcement comes against the backdrop of the public appeal made by MNS president Raj Thackeray while campaigning for elections to Mumbai and other civic bodies.
“We (Shiv Sena-UBT and MNS) have formed a squad, which will be in action from 7 AM (on Jan 15). Once the squad gets informed about dual voter region-wise, the joint team will handle such voters appropriately,” Raut said.
When asked about the potential legal consequences of physically assaulting individuals by dubbing them dual voters, Raut argued that thrashing those who do not fit in the law does not amount to creating a law and order situation. “Does bogus voting fit in the definition of law and order?” he asked.
The Opposition had raised the issue of bogus and dual voters aggressively with the State Election Commission and called for correcting the alleged discrepancies in the electoral rolls.
In preparation for the BMC elections, authorities have found over 11 lakh suspected duplicate voter entries in the city. Out of 11.01 lakh entries flagged as suspected duplicates (roughly 10% of Mumbai’s electorate), approximately 1.68 lakh (15 per cent) were confirmed as genuine duplicate records after door-to-door verification.
The wards with the most identified duplicate entries included L ward (Kurla/Chandivali) with 16,532 entries, K-West ward (Andheri West/Juhu) with 12,010 entries, and R-South ward (Kandivali West) with 11,618 entries.
Many flagged entries were found to be different individuals sharing identical names. Examples included one name appearing 102 times but with different ages and ward numbers.