MUMBAI, Dec. 14 -- The clamour over "vote chori" (vote theft) is growing louder as Mumbai approaches a pivotal political moment. These allegations, of electoral rolls inflated with fictitious voters to favour the ruling dispensation, have got the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) cleaning up its voters' list. After all, the municipal elections, just over six weeks away, will decide which political alliance steers the civic governance - political and fiscal - of the country's financial capital. Alongside the BMC's massive clean-up drive, a similar exercise is underway. Working after hours, silently and efficiently, are foot soldiers of the Shiv Sena (UBT), calling out the alleged "vote chori" by its rivals. Conducting a parallel voter verification drive, thousands of party office-bearers and workers recently fanned out at the shakha level, across all 227 civic wards in Mumbai. Local Sena (UBT) leaders say their preliminary findings indicate that the fictitious or "bogus" voters identified and the number of names duplicated could have influenced the results of the election, if they hadn't caught them in time. They say their verification drive lends weight to claims first raised by the party's electoral ally, the Congress, and its leader Rahul Gandhi, who first spoke of "vote chori" more than a year ago. Running his finger down a list is Vaibhav Kelkar, in Saptarshi building on Borbhat Cross Lane in Girgaum. Kelkar, an upa-shakha pramukh (deputy chief of a shakha), was taken aback to find two names from the Muslim community registered as voters in his building. He's been living in Saptarshi building for 34 years and can confirm that these are bogus entries. An objection has since been submitted with supporting proof to the BMC, so that the rolls can be updated. Not far away is Kiran Vedak, gat pramukh (group chief) from Denawadi in Thakurdwar. Vedak was astonished to find the names of 10 of their 40 regular voters marked as "duplicate" in the voters' list. These individuals, he assured, have been living at the same address for several decades - there is no reason they should be listed at another address. The party has flagged erroneous duplicate voters across shakhas. The BMC has mandated that "duplicate" voters must submit a letter to the BMC, stating which ward they intend to vote from. Failure to do so could potentially jeopardise their votes at a later date. The question is: how would citizens know whether or not they are listed as "duplicate"? As the results of the Sena (UBT)'s verification drive are pooled and collated, local leaders say a disturbing trend is emerging: more than fictitious names being added to the electoral rolls, thousands of voters, mainly with a Marathi identity, were marked as "duplicate". If party workers hadn't noticed this anomaly, a significant number of their supporters may have had trouble with their votes. In Lower Parel alone, the party claims to have found that 3,750 voters from the 7,200-odd declared as "duplicate" were their traditional voters, even though they had been living in the area for years. If the Sena (UBT)'s claims are true, they could have lost over a thousand traditional votes in each of the BMC's 227 civic wards. This would have compromised their prospects in the elections, they point out. The stakes are particularly high for the Sena (UBT), for whom the BMC elections could determine the party's very future. It will be the first time the party, led by Uddhav Thackeray, will be pitted against the Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde in Mumbai's civic polls, after the latter split the undivided Shiv Sena in 2022. Moreover, the Sena (UBT) finds itself on the back foot, as the Sena is a part of the ruling BJP-led Mahayuti alliance government in the state. Faced with a do-or-die battle, party workers are going all out in their voter-verification drive. In September, Thackeray had claimed the electoral rolls had been inflated by 1.4 million voters after the assembly elections in 2024. He also told party workers to keep eye on the voters' list in their respective areas. A verification drive was kicked off by party leader Aaditya Thackeray, MLA from Worli, and the results shocked the cadres. A total 19,333 voters with suspicious details were found in Thackeray's assembly constituency alone. Alarm bells rang in Sena (UBT) shakhas across the city, and a voter verification drive was prioritised above all else. And this is what it meant. Each BMC ward comprises 40 to 45 booths. To verify each voter list, which comprises around 1,200 names, party workers visited around 300 homes. Senior party leaders chalked out a strategy, which they shared with all organisational chiefs, on how to conduct the verification drive. Next, copies of the electoral rolls were made available at the shakha level. Meetings were convened for leaders in charge of booth-level management, and the verification process was explained. All kinds of anomalies were to be flagged, such as duplicate voters, voters with suspicious details, unknown fictitious voters, etc. Shakha number 198 - Lower Parel - has over 47,000 voters registered in the civic ward - that's 43 lists (each list has 900-1,200 names). This shakha has given Mumbai four mayors, including Datta Nalawade, Mahadev Devale, Snehal Ambekar and Kishori Pednekar. Shakha pramukh Deepak Bagwe briefed the team, an army of 22 upa-shakha pramukhs, 86 gat pramukhs, and 25 women upa-shakha pramukhs. First, a 'yadi vachan' (reading all the names in the voters' list) was done. Since they were all locals, familiar names leapt out and others were flagged for checking. Shashikant Nandgaonkar, an upa-shakha pramukh and Bank of Baroda employee, says, "I used to spend more than two hours every evening after work, on the verification. We found 15 voters with surnames like "Patil-Shinde" who do not live in the area. Our area is known as 'mini-Kolhapur' due to the number of people from Kolhapur who live here, and Patil-Shinde is a common name among them. These bogus voters were assigned surnames that would not raise a red flag," alleges Nandgaonkar. Supriya Katre, a women office-bearer, too worked on the verification after returning from work. "We found 178 voters who had shifted from our area long ago had remained in the list. The names of around 160 deceased voters too needed to be deleted. We have submitted objections to the BMC," says Katre. Shakha pramukh of Worli Deepak Bagwe said he has submitted over 7,000 objections relating to duplicate names, unknown voters, voters who had shifted, change of booth etc. "We realised that 3,750 old residents had been marked as "duplicate" voters and none was aware of this. If we had not detected this in time, we could have lost votes," says Bagwe. In Girgaum, shakha gat pramukh, Ganesh Mule, said they had noticed an alarming anomaly - around 200 voters in two buildings had been shifted from booth No 213, to faraway booth No 205. These were Marathi voters, who traditionally voted for the Sena (UBT) and who may not have cast their vote as the new booth was far from the regular one. In a close contest, 200 votes could decide the outcome in a civic ward. Shakha pramukh Nilesh Ahirekar of shakha No 218 in Girgaon, made a bold allegation. He claims the ward, with 55,000 voters, is a stronghold of the Sena (UBT). However, during the 2017 civic elections, 11,000-odd non-Marathi voters from another ward had been added to this ward. "As a result, our party lost the seat to the BJP. We have experienced how shifting of voters and other tactics affects the outcome of a BMC election. That's why we have worked hard on this voter verification drive," says Ahirekar. Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Anil Parab says the verification drive is crucial as even a few hundred votes could cost the party a seat. "In the 2017 election, our party lost over 25 seats to low margins. Our party workers across shakhas have identified thousands of our traditional voters who have been marked as "duplicate," he told HT. Municipal commissioner Bhushan Gagrani said the civic administration will follow the State Election Commission guidelines while cleaning up the rolls. "As far as duplicate voters are concerned, our officials can sort out the issue till the declaration of ward-wise lists of voters. We are not denying anyone the right to vote. The only thing is we will ensure that these voters must declare the place where they intend to vote."...