These voters in Pune never moved, someone changed their addresses anyway

MORE THAN two years ago, in October 2024, the Pune District Election Officer (DEO) first flagged to the Maharashtra Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) irregular patterns in voter applications for change in address to other constituencies. Two more letters followed five months later, one suggesting such applications were being submitted in bulk by persons other than the voters concerned.

On November 19, 2025, NCP leader Ajit Gavhane, hand-delivered a complaint with a list of 58 names and claimed the list was an example of “fraudulent deletions/ shifting of voters” and there were more than 15,000 cases. This finally led the Maharashtra CEO’s office to write to the Pune DEO ordering an inquiry, according to documents reviewed by The Indian Express.

At least six voters in the list whose addresses were changed and names deleted from their original constituency said they had neither shifted residences nor submitted any form for address change.

Fatimabi Mehboob Sayyed, one of the voters on Gavhane’s list, said her voter address was shifted to Ovala Majiwada in Thane without her knowledge.

Salar Shaikh, Welfare Party of India candidate in the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation election this year, said his name was shifted to neighbouring Pimpri. His voter ID has now been deleted from the SIR draft roll because, he alleged, the Booth Level Officer in Pimpri refused to fill his SIR enumeration form. “How was my name shifted in the first place,” he asked. He has filled Form 6 for re-inclusion in the voter list.

In his complaint, Gavhane had claimed these 58 voters were permanent residents of voter lists in Bhosari Assembly constituency and had “never filed any application for transfer or deletion of their names from the said voter list”. He had contested on an NCP (Sharad Pawar) ticket and lost the Bhosari Assembly seat in the 2024 state Assembly elections.

The Pune DEO received reports from eight election officers from Thane, Khed Alandi, Ambegaon, Khadakvasla, Nashik East, Bhosari, Kothrud and Pimpri. In his inquiry report, the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) of Bhosari constituency said the address of one voter in Gavhane’s list of 58 had changed within the constituency. The remaining 57 figured among the 5,603 voters, for whom Form 7 (the form for deleting a voter) had been automatically generated after address change applications were submitted and accepted at some other constituency.

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The ERO of the new constituency approves or rejects the application on the EC’s ERONET software. If the Form 8 is approved, the software automatically creates a Form 7 in voters’ old constituencies to delete them from the voter list there. (File)

Following queries from The Indian Express, the Pune DEO had on October 31, 2026, directed authorities to take action against those responsible. He issued a show cause notice to Pimpri ERO over how the address change applications were accepted without filed verification. On November 1, the Pimpri Assistant ERO filed a non-cognizable offence report at the Nigdi Police Station under Section 31 of The Representation of the People Act, 1950, against persons who used four mobile numbers to file 40 Form 8 applications.

The Pune DEO finally assessed that in Gavhane’s list of 58 voters, three voters had died, 11 were living where they were registered, and voter registration (Form 6) applications had since been filed online to bring the remaining 43 back on the rolls in Bhosari Assembly constituency.

The Indian Express sent a query to state CEO S Chockalingam on November 2 asking for information on Gavhane’s complaint. On the same day, his office sent a letter to the Pune DEO asking for explanation and action taken.

Explained

Form 8: How does it work?

When voters shift to a different location, they have to submit Form 8 in the new cons­tituency to get their names enrolled in the rolls there. The Electoral Registration Officer of the new constit­uency verifies the docum­ents submitted. He can also ask the Booth Level Officer to verify the address. The ERO of the new constituency approves or rejects the application on the EC’s ERONET software. If the Form 8 is approved, the software automatically creates a Form 7 in voters’ old constituencies to delete them from the voter list there.

Pune DEO’s 3 letters, NCP leader’s complaint, and internal reports from 8 election officers

On October 17, 2024, Pune District Election Officer (DEO) Suhas Diwase first wrote to Chockalingam (Maharashtra CEO) that a large number of voters from different Assembly constituencies in his district were being shifted to other constituencies through applications of address change (done through Form 8). Many of these applications provided the same electricity bill as proof of the new address, and the name on the bill did not match the voter’s name. Further, many applications came from a single IP address.

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Five months later, on March 20, 2025, Pune’s new DEO Jitendra Dudi wrote to the CEO office again and said that upon verification, it was found that the voters were living in the same place, and had not shifted.

Dudi followed up with another letter to the CEO on April 4, 2025, alerting that the number of such applications could rise because of the upcoming local body elections in January 2026. When a Form 8 (form for address change) is approved in the new constituency, the ERONET software automatically generates a Form 7, which is the form for deleting a voter in the voter’s original constituency.

He wrote that the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) in the original constituency from where voters are being shifted should have an option to “reject” the Form 7 on the ERONET software. The portal offers only one option to “accept” the forms. He also said the voter list should not be updated until the ERO concerned thoroughly verifies the application.

Then on November 19, 2025, Gavhane complained to the CEO office that someone had shifted voters’ names in bulk without their knowledge; 51 of the 58 names in the list are Muslim. Gavhane’s associate Sarang Kamtekar, who prepared the list, said that it was only a ‘representative list’ with the real number being much larger.

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The CEO’s office ordered an inquiry the next day. In their reports, election officials in Pimpri, Thane and Khadakvasla admitted that address change requests through Form 8 had been approved without any field check by Booth Level Officers (BLOs). In his report, the Pimpri ERO said the 42 applications were accepted based on the document submitted, but without BLO verification since there was limited time. The Thane DEO said the 10 applications (from Gavhane’s list) were accepted again on the basis of documents submitted, but without BLO verification. Khadakvasla ERO also said the one application was accepted based on the document submitted.

The other five internal reports by EROs of Nashik East, Ambegaon, Khed Alandi, Bhosari and Kothrud, said BLO verifications were completed and changes were approved accordingly. Each approval automatically generated a Form 7, the form for deleting a voter, in the voter’s original constituency.

The Pune DEO’s reply to the CEO-ordered inquiry, dated January 27, 2026, enclosed all these eight reports. In his report, the DEO said, a huge number of applications had been received during the 2024 election period. “Since it was necessary to print and publish the electoral roll within the stipulated period for the upcoming Assembly elections, it was necessary to approve or reject the said application within the stipulated period for decision,” he said.

Chockalingam told The Indian Express that a “reject” option was not feasible, as it would leave a voter registered in two constituencies at once. He said the issue of bulk filing had now been addressed by making an Aadhaar-based digital signature mandatory, which the Election Commission introduced in September 2025.