Mumbai: BMC draft voters’ list to be published on June 23

SEC officials conduct lottery for ward reservations in city. File pic

The draft electoral rolls of Mumbai and 13 other municipal corporations will be made public on June 23, said the State Election Commission. Objections can be raised and suggestions made till July 1, it said.

The SEC had announced the election programme on June 2 following the Supreme Court's order in the case for restoring the Other Backward Class (OBC) reservation. As per the earlier schedule, the draft voters' lists for the respective civic wards were to be released on June 17, but the date was postponed to June 23. The final list will be out on July 9. SC has allowed the SEC to delay polls in cities where it rains heavily in the monsoon.

The elections are supposed to be held without the OBC quota and the lottery for other reservations was drawn recently. The state is in the process of collating the empirical data for the OBC quota and is confident of getting it restored after submitting it to the court.

The SEC said that the draft lists have been prepared on the basis of the Election Commission of India's data which was finalised till May 31, 2022. "While preparing the civic ward rolls, the names and addresses of the voters are mentioned as per the ECI lists. The state commission does not delete or include names, correct the addresses or make any basic changes. However, the SEC considers suggestions and objections related to the mistakes made while preparing ward-wise rolls such as missing names [based on the CEC list] and change of wards," it said.