Voting for the 227 Wards of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) began on Thursday, January 15, amid high security in place. However, within the first few hours, tension surfaced after a ‘duplicate voter’ was detected in Ward No. 192 in Mumbai's Dadar, MNS leader Yashwant Killedar.
The issue came to light when MNS candidate Yashwant Killedar arrived at the polling station to cast his vote. Security personnel were seen acting swiftly after a woman voter’s name was allegedly found twice on the voter list in his presence.
MNS chief Raj Thackeray had earlier instructed party workers to remain alert against duplicate voting. Following this, MNS workers flagged the issue, following which the woman voter was stopped and questioned at the polling centre.
Election officials later intervened and said the woman would be allowed to vote only after verification of her Aadhaar card and submission of an affidavit. Reacting to the incident, Yashwant Killedar questioned the Election Commission’s preparedness, saying such errors in the voter list raise serious concerns about the transparency of the electoral process.