Maharashtra Voter Deletion Controversy: ‘Shaikh’ Surname Tops List, Muslims Account for Largest Share of Deleted Voters

Citizens with the surname “Sheikh” top the list of voters removed during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists in Maharashtra. A first analysis by the Sabar Institute says 753,978 voters with the surname “Sheikh” lost their place on the list in this process. The report says the share of voters with Muslim names among those removed across the state is much higher than their share of the population.

Uneven effect on Muslim voters

The Sabar Institute says 2 crore 6 lakh 80 thousand voters were removed in Maharashtra in total. Of them, 3,020,173 had Muslim names. This means 14.6 percent of all removed voters had Muslim names. The 2011 census puts the Muslim share of the state’s population at 12.1 percent, which is lower. The gap is wider in the capital Mumbai. There, 21.3 percent of the removed voters had Muslim names, while in the rest of Maharashtra the figure is 13.2 percent.

Top surnames

Among the removed voters, “Sheikh” leads the surname count with 753,978 people. Patil follows with 483,526, then Khan with 368,649, Yadav with 339,796 and Pawar with 274,607. For 88 percent of the removed “Sheikh” voters, the reason given was a category other than death. These include permanently shifted, absent or not found, and multiple names in other places.

Of the removed “Sheikh” voters, 30 percent were from Mumbai and 47 percent were women. Voters with this surname were removed in all 288 assembly constituencies of the state. The most removals happened in the Mumbra Kalwa area. The report warns that a list of surnames alone cannot prove that religion or caste was the target. It only shows how often each surname appears among the removed voters.

Higher share of Muslims in “absent” and “registered elsewhere” groups

The report studied the reasons for removal and found some differences between Muslim voters and other voters. For death, the figure is 11.8 percent for Muslim voters and 16.8 percent for others. For registered elsewhere, it is 12.3 percent for Muslim voters and 7.9 percent for others. For absent or missing, it is 38.6 percent for Muslim voters and 37.3 percent for others.

After adjusting for age and assembly constituency, Muslim voters are 1.40 times more likely than other voters to be marked “absent or missing”. They are 2.07 times more likely to be marked “registered elsewhere”. The institute thinks a faulty method of matching names may be the cause, since the same or similar names are matched wrongly. Some surnames and names, such as Sheikh, Khan, Sayed and Pathan, are more common among Muslims. But the institute could not say for sure whether this is a technical error or something else, because it lacks proof.

Unusual removals in Mumbai and political effect

The 36 assembly constituencies of Mumbai hold 11 percent of the state’s voters. Yet 17 percent of all voter removals happened in this area alone. In Mumbai overall, 34.7 percent of voters lost their place on the list. By district, the figure is 35.4 percent in Thane, 31.6 percent in Mumbai City and 29.7 percent in Mumbai Suburban.

In the Colaba seat, 119,606 voters were removed. This is more than the total votes cast there in the 2024 assembly election, which was 118,499. The report says that in 190 assembly seats of Maharashtra, the number of living voters removed was higher than the winning margin of the 2024 winner. In 95 seats, the number of voters removed under the “absent” category alone was higher than the winning margin.

More than 2 crore names removed across the state

Across Maharashtra, 21.1 percent of the voters on the list before the revision began were removed. That is 2 crore 6 lakh 88 thousand 421 people. Of them, 16.8 percent had died. More than 1 crore 72 lakh others were removed as shifted, absent or registered in more than one place.

Third gender voters also took a heavy hit. Of 6,101 third gender voters on the list, 3,250 (53.3 percent) were removed. In Malad West alone, the names of 313 out of 345 third gender voters were cut.

The Sabar Institute said the findings are a first estimate based on data published by the Election Commission. It made clear that losing a place on the voter list does not mean a person loses citizenship or the right to government benefits. However, the list is used as proof of voting rights and address, so the removed people may face many problems.