MU Senate Polls: Shelar's Claim Of Duplicate Voters A Damp Squib

Mumbai: BJP MLA Ashish Shelar's sensational claim about a large number of duplicate entries in the University of Mumbai's (MU) senate election voter list has turned out to be a damp squib as a probe by the varsity didn't find more than a few such cases. Most of the alleged duplicate names in the list were found to be of different persons as evident by their documents and other details, said a person involved with the scrutiny.

On Monday, the three-member probe committee submitted its report to the university, which will likely present the findings before the Bombay High Court today.

Shelar alleges irregularities in voter registration process

The revelation comes a day after Shelar made fresh claims about irregularities in the voter registration process, and demanded a probe by the Income Tax Department and Enforcement Directorate. He alleged that around 46,392 voters out of 94,631 have been registered from a handful of internet protocol addresses. In his complaint, which led to an indefinite suspension of the election process two months ago, Shelar had claimed that there were 755 instances of duplication in the electoral rolls for the senate's registered graduate constituency. He had also alleged that many names were suspiciously added and removed from the final list of 94,631 voters.

Probe panel finds over 400 names repeated in the list

While the probe panel did find over 400 names to be repeated in the list, a closer look revealed that most of them were distinct persons with similar names. “In all the instances of apparent duplicate names, the committee cross-checked their degree certificates, date of graduation and Aadhaar cards. It turned out most of them were different people. The university had already removed the actual double entries. A few that were missed were scrapped by the committee. Some entries with incomplete data were also dropped,” said the source.

The findings will likely give munition to the opposition which has questioned the state government's directive of halting an already delayed election for the varsity's senate. The top statutory body has been working without its full-strength for more than a year. The opposition leaders have claimed that the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena (Shinde faction)-NCP (Ajit Pawar group) coalition is trying to delay the polls as it's wary of defeat.

The inquiry has been timely completed, given the HC's October 25 deadline. The court is hearing a petition challenging MU's decision to defer the union elections. Sagar Devre, the petitioner, has claimed that the varsity is acting under political pressure.