India, Aug. 31 -- Opposition leaders are alleging a massive electoral scandal in Panvel and Navi Mumbai, ahead of local body elections in the state. They claim to have detected the presence of over 1.6 lakh duplicate and fraudulent names in voter lists in these regions, saying it will threaten the integrity of both last year's assembly elections and the upcoming civic polls.

Adding momentum to their claims is the campaign by senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who has alleged "vote chori" (vote theft) by the ruling BJP in various parts of the country.

After former MLA and Peasants and Workers Party of India (PWPI) leader Balaram Patil allegedly discovered 85,211 duplicate voter registrations in the Panvel assembly constituency last yea...