BMC Polls 2026: Chaos Ensues As Voter Names Go Missing From Electoral Rolls

Chaos and confusion marred the first few hours of voting in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections and other civic polls across Maharashtra on Thursday, as hundreds of voters reported their names missing from electoral rolls despite having voted in recent Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.

Voters arriving early at polling stations in suburbs like Kandivali, Vakola, Colaba, Andheri, Borivali, and Prabhadevi were turned away or redirected after officials claimed their names were absent from the lists. Many had verified their details online just days earlier, but faced discrepancies at the booth level.

Ashutosh, a resident of Kandivali, described his shock: “I checked the online list two days ago. We weren’t worried because we voted in the Assembly elections last year and the general elections. But at the station, I was told right at the entrance that our names weren’t in their list.”

In Vakola’s H East ward, Preeti Sompura said that in her building alone, over 40 residents who voted in both the 2024 national and state polls found only six names on the physical list at the polling station. “The EC officials had no answer. They said these are lists they received from the BMC. Who gave you the right to delete our names?” she asked.

Parimal Wagh, a lawyer from Colaba, faced a mismatch between his online voter slip (part number 887) and the actual list (part number 873 on the next page). “The correct part number hadn’t been updated on the website. This delay happened solely because of outdated information,” he said.

Anish Shah reported an even stranger error: his name appeared in a completely different ward, while his daughter’s name showed correctly online but was missing at the booth. He said it was like “snatching the right to vote.”

Even prominent figures encountered problems. Maharashtra Forest Minister Ganesh Naik had to visit three polling centres in Navi Mumbai before locating his name at St Mary’s School in Kopar Khairane. “If a minister like me can have his name missing, imagine what’s happening to common voters,” he told reporters.

NCP-SP leader Anish Gawande said his family members’ names were shifted to different booths, and many voters gave up after struggling with a crashed Maha Voter SEC website and a single printed electoral roll copy with no assistance. “Several people left because they couldn’t find their names or go through thousands of pages,” he said. Gawande credited a Shiv Sena (UBT) booth-level officer (BLO) for helping locate his parents’ and sisters’ names 500 metres away.

Shiv Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi was redirected from her usual station but eventually cast her vote elsewhere. She urged Mumbaikars to verify details in advance and turn out in large numbers.

Additional complaints included booth slips missing booth numbers in Andheri and Borivali, and separate reports from Kalyan, where voters returned home disappointed after failing to locate their names.

Videos circulating on social media also showed voters wiping off so-called indelible ink with ease using water or sanitiser, raising fresh questions about the marker’s effectiveness. However, the Election Commission has not yet issued a comprehensive statement on the voter list discrepancies.

As polling continued through the day, the widespread confusion painted a troubling picture of electoral preparedness, coming just 13 months after the state Assembly elections.