India General Elections 2024: Woman’s decade-old photo allegedly used for fraudulent votes

Supriya Savio Pimenta

During the Lok Sabha Election 2024, Supriya Savio Pimenta, a 40-year-old resident of Dahisar, discovered a troubling anomaly: her ten-year-old photograph was used on the voting list under someone else's name. This incident is not isolated; across Mumbai, numerous voters reported similar issues, with names missing or duplicated on the voting list. One striking case involved Sushma Gupta from Vasai, whose name appeared seven times, each with a different voting number.

10-year-old pic of Pimenta on her passport

Speaking with mid-day, Supriya Savio Pimenta said, "I cast my vote and upon returning home, a relative at the voting booth sent me a photo of mine with a different name. Initially, it was passed off as a joke, saying ‘your missing sister was found.' However, upon closer inspection, I realised it was my photo from ten years ago, used for my passport."

Voter slip of Pimenta. Pics/Hanif Patel

"I am certain that someone has stolen my documents and is using them annually to cast fraudulent votes with my photo and forged documents. The Election Commission should take action and eliminate such duplications. The duplicate name is Hajna Kristo D'Souza. I am confident that at this centre, an unknown woman voted using my photo and fake documents. In Mumbai, it's easy to create documents, and these fraudsters exploit this to create duplicate votes," Pimenta added.

Pimenta's old photo used to register Hajna D'Souza as a voter

Pimenta plans to approach the MHB Colony police and file an FIR against the duplicate voter. In another alarming case, Ajiv Patil, a resident of Vasai, discovered that the name Sushma Gupta appeared seven times on the voter list.

"I found seven voters with the same name, meaning Sushma Gupta could cast seven votes. We have the voting list, clearly showing Sushma Gupta registered with different voting numbers. The Election Commission should investigate whether these votes were cast by a single person or through proxies," Patil told mid-day.