diff --git a/apps/emqx_durable_storage/src/emqx_ds_replication_layer_shard.erl b/apps/emqx_durable_storage/src/emqx_ds_replication_layer_shard.erl
index 8f87b69b4..2d19ec7ef 100644
--- a/apps/emqx_durable_storage/src/emqx_ds_replication_layer_shard.erl
+++ b/apps/emqx_durable_storage/src/emqx_ds_replication_layer_shard.erl
@@ -114,6 +114,13 @@ get_server_local_preferred(DB, Shard) ->
             pick_random(get_shard_servers(DB, Shard))
     end.
 
+lookup_leader(DB, Shard) ->
+    %% NOTE
+    %% Does not block, but the result may be outdated or even unknown when there's
+    %% no servers on the local node.
+    ClusterName = get_cluster_name(DB, Shard),
+    ra_leaderboard:lookup_leader(ClusterName).
+
 pick_local(Servers) ->
     case lists:keyfind(node(), 2, Servers) of
         Local when is_tuple(Local) ->
@@ -181,7 +188,22 @@ add_local_server(DB, Shard) ->
 -spec drop_local_server(emqx_ds:db(), emqx_ds_replication_layer:shard_id()) ->
     ok | emqx_ds:error(_Reason).
 drop_local_server(DB, Shard) ->
+    ShardServers = shard_servers(DB, Shard),
     LocalServer = local_server(DB, Shard),
+    case lookup_leader(DB, Shard) of
+        LocalServer ->
+            %% NOTE
+            %% Trigger leadership transfer *and* force to wait until the new leader
+            %% is elected and updated in the leaderboard. This should help to avoid
+            %% edge cases where entries appended right before removal are duplicated
+            %% due to client retries.
+            %% Timeouts are ignored, it's a best effort attempt.
+            [Candidate | _] = lists:delete(LocalServer, ShardServers),
+            _ = ra:transfer_leadership(LocalServer, Candidate),
+            _ = wait_until(fun() -> lookup_leader(DB, Shard) == Candidate end);
+        _Another ->
+            ok
+    end,
     case remove_server(DB, Shard, LocalServer) of
         ok ->
             ra:force_delete_server(DB, LocalServer);
@@ -351,3 +373,24 @@ memoize(Fun, Args) ->
         Result ->
             Result
     end.
+
+wait_until(Fun) ->
+    wait_until(Fun, 5_000, 250).
+
+wait_until(Fun, Timeout, Sleep) ->
+    Deadline = erlang:monotonic_time(millisecond) + Timeout,
+    loop_until(Fun, Deadline, Sleep).
+
+loop_until(Fun, Deadline, Sleep) ->
+    case Fun() of
+        true ->
+            ok;
+        false ->
+            case erlang:monotonic_time(millisecond) of
+                Now when Now < Deadline ->
+                    timer:sleep(Sleep),
+                    loop_until(Fun, Deadline, Sleep);
+                _ ->
+                    timeout
+            end
+    end.