With Mumbai heading into the high-stakes Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) election, immigration checks at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport have flagged a worrying pattern. Over the past two months, officials have intercepted multiple Non-Resident Indians (NRIs)s who were carrying Indian voter ID cards despite having foreign passports, as per a report in Mid-Day.
According to the report, officers at the airport claimed that these voter IDs raised immediate red flags in the run-up to the municipal polls.
Voter cards seized
As per the report, immigration staff seized all 28 voter ID cards on the spot. The details of all the cardholders have been shared with the Election Commission of India, which has started the procedure to cancel the voter cards and to verify how they were issued in the first place.
Most of those questioned were said to be citizens of Nepal, the United States, Australia, and Nepal. An official told the Mid Day that a preliminary probe indicates several people may have used relatives’ Mumbai addresses and declared themselves residents while applying for enrollment on the electoral rolls. In some cases, they are suspected of taking part in elections in the country they are residing in while also trying to cast a vote in India. This is something officials described as a serious breach of election rules.
The cases have been reportedly sent to the relevant election and home authorities for further investigation. More security checks at airports are likely to continue during the election period.
All about the high-stakes BMC Election 2026
Mumbai will be voting on January 15, 2026, to elect representatives to all 227 seats of the BMC, considered the country’s richest civic body. According to the election seat-sharing details, the Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Eknath Shinde led Shiv Sena will face each other directly on 69 seats. A straight fight between the BJP and the Thackeray will take place on 97 seats. The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) will be up against the Shinde faction on 18 seats.
For the 227 member civic body, the seat distribution is as follows:
Shiv Sena (UBT)-163 seats
MNS-53 seats
BJP-137 seats
Shiv Sena (Shinde faction)-90 seats
Congress-143 to 150 seats
(NCP (Sharad Pawar faction-11 seats
Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi -46 seats.
Major parties, including both Shiv Sena factions, NCP, MNS, BJP, Congress, and smaller regional outfits, are locked in a fierce battle.