In Maharashtra, 2.7 lakh voters shown aged over 100; anomaly took over a month to fix

A technical glitch in the electoral-roll system resulted in the birth year of 2,70,313 electors in Maharashtra being reflected as 1900, showing their ages as 101-150 years in the draft electoral roll prepared under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), The Indian Express has learned. ECI officials attributed the discrepancy to a technical glitch. The issue was rectified through the system on Tuesday, October 6, more than a month after the Maharashtra Chief Electoral Officer's (CEO) office first raised it.

Of the affected entries, 2,37,974, or 88 per cent, were in three Assembly constituencies in Nashik district: Kalvan (ST), Chandwad and Deolali (SC). The other 32,339 were spread across the state.

The CEO's office first raised the issue with the ECI's IT division, headed by Seema Khanna, on September 2 and followed up on September 8. With the information still pending, CEO S Chockalingam wrote to Senior Deputy Election Commissioner Maneesh Garg on September 17, asking him to direct the IT section to provide the data 'without further delay'.

"It has come to notice that the ages of 2,70,313 electors across various Assembly Constituencies in the State of Maharashtra have been reflected in the range of 101-150 years in the Draft Electoral Roll prepared under SIR-2026," Chockalingam wrote on September 17. The letter noted that 'a substantial number' of the electors had been recorded as being 126 years old.

To verify the discrepancy, the CEO's office sought, in Excel format, the date of birth and age recorded in the electoral roll before SIR and the date of birth in the SIR Enumeration Form. The aim was to establish whether the incorrect entry predated SIR or occurred during the revision.

The Indian Express sought a response from the ECI spokesperson in New Delhi on the morning of October 5 on the time taken to share the information with the state CEO's office. Sources said the CEO's office received a response from the ECI later that day. The CEO's office then followed up further, and the discrepancy was rectified on October 6.

ECI officials told this newspaper the problem was a technical glitch under which 1900 was reflected as the birth year in the affected records, resulting in the corresponding ages being displayed in the draft roll. The records were subsequently corrected through the system.

The episode also highlights how the state's chief electoral officer depended on the ECI headquarters for records of electors in Maharashtra. To verify the error, the CEO's office had to seek the pre-SIR and Enumeration Form data from the ECI's IT section, and it took over a month to receive a response.

This mirrors concerns raised within the Commission. An investigation by The Indian Express had reported that two Election Commissioners raised objections over ECINet. Sukhbir Singh Sandhu said CEOs, District Election Officers and Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), who are empowered by law to make changes to the roll, did not have 'proper and complete access' to the ERONet portal. Vivek Joshi called the development 'the gradual centralisation of the electoral roll database.'

Maharashtra's draft roll, published on August 31, has 7.72 crore electors, down from 9.79 crore before the SIR. Claims and objections are open until October 12, and the final roll will be published on November 16.