Election officials in Pune have restored 58 voters to the Bhosari assembly constituency electoral roll after their addresses were changed without their knowledge or consent. The voters were among 60 originally flagged; two of the 60 have since died, according to officials.

Source: Particle News (Indian Express investigation)

Preliminary scrutiny traced 40 contested Form 8 address-change applications to October 5, 2024, and found they were filed online by third parties — not by the voters themselves — using just four mobile numbers. The Pune District Election Officer had flagged the irregular applications to Maharashtra's Chief Electoral Officer S. Chockalingam as early as October 2024, pointing to the same electricity bill being used as proof and many applications coming from a single IP address.

Source: The Wire (Indian Express investigation)

Once the Form 8 changes were approved, Form 7 deletions were automatically generated against the voters' names in their original constituency. At least six of the affected voters said they had never moved and never applied for a transfer, Inshorts reported, citing the Indian Express investigation published on Saturday, November 14.

Source: Inshorts (Indian Express)

Police complaint and official action

A police complaint was lodged on November 1 under Section 31 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, after election officers authorised legal action over the alleged shifts, and a non-cognisable offence was recorded at Nigdi police station against unidentified persons. The Pune District Election Officer has also issued a show-cause notice to the Pimpri Electoral Registration Officer, after inquiry reports admitted that some applications were approved without field verification by Booth Level Officers.

The larger claim — an allegation, not yet verified

The case reached officials through a November 2025 complaint by NCP (SP) leader Ajit Gavhane, who claimed that roughly 15,000 voters were illegally deleted or shifted from Bhosari and alleged that most of the affected people were Muslims. That figure remains an unverified allegation. Gavhane's associate Sarang Kamtekar criticised the police for registering only a non-cognisable offence and demanded a proper FIR and a larger probe.

The Bhosari findings land in the middle of a national argument over the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, in which opposition parties have alleged wrongful deletions in several states — allegations the Election Commission has disputed. What happens next in Pune depends on the police probe and on whether officials widen the audit beyond the 60 flagged names.