The number of voters under the jurisdiction of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has increased by 31 per cent in the last five years, said officials last week while releasing the draft voters list for the upcoming civic polls in the city. The total number of voters in the second-largest city in Maharashtra is now 34,58,714, against the figure of 26,34,798 during the previous civic elections in 2017. “The percentage of voters has increased by 31 per cent in the PMC area. This is due to the increase in population, which is yet to be registered in the census exercise, and also inclusion of 34 villages in civic limits,” said a civic officer. Overall, 4.5 lakh new male voters and 3.75 lakh female voters have been added to the voters list. Notably, there are six wards among the total 58 PMC wards where the number of female voters is more than that of male voters. Going by the increase in population, the number of corporators in the PMC has also been increased to 173. The civic body has finalised the reservation of seats for the Schedule Caste (SC) and Schedule Tribe (ST) groups based on their respective percentages within the city limit as per the 2011 census. The reservation of seats for women across categories has been fixed at 50 per cent as per state laws. Meanwhile, the reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBC) has been struck down by the Supreme Court but the state government continues to argue in its favour in the apex court. The PMC is updating its voters list by referring to the latest electoral roll available with the Election Commission of India (ECI). Citizens completing 18 years and registering with the ECI before May 31 this year will be eligible to cast their votes in the PMC polls. Interestingly, the updated list of the ECI has 34,58,714 registered voters as on May 31, while the population of the city is 35,56,824 as per the 2011 census. “This is because the electoral rolls are updated every year but the population census data available every 10 years has not been updated, as the census exercise got delayed owing to the ongoing pandemic,” said the civic officer. He said, “The strength of corporators for the PMC is decided as per the population data of the city, but the available data is from 2011… the number of corporators has been revised to 173. It could have been much more if the latest data would have been available before the civic polls. On the other hand, electoral rolls are updated throughout the year.” The civic officer further noted that the difference in the census data of 2011 and the updated electoral roll has led to a peculiar situation. “In 17 of the total 58 wards, the number of voters is more than the population of the area. There is nothing we can do about the situation as the entire election process is based on data available from the Union government,” he said. The population of Dhayari-Ambegaon ward is 64,071 as per the 2011 census data but the number of voters is 1,03,959. Other wards where voters outnumber the local population are Lohegaon-Vimannagar, Kharadi-Wagholi, Kharadi-Vadgaonsheri, Aundh, Balewadi, Pashan-Bavdhan Budhruk, Manjri Budhruk-Shewalewadi, Mahatma Phule Smarak-Bhavani Peth, Kothrud-Shivteerthnagar, Ramnagar-Shivane, Shivdarshan-Padmavati, Marketyard-Maharishinagar, Kondhwa Khurd-Meethanagar, Wanowried-Kausarbaug, Mommadwadi-Uruli Devachi, Kondhwa Budhruk-Yeolewadi and Katraj-Gokulnagar. Meanwhile, the PMC while releasing the draft electoral rolls has appealed to citizens to check their details, adding that correction requests, if any, can be filed in ward offices till July 1.
