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PMC polls record 54.50 per cent turnout, all eyes on counting today
Missing names in electoral rolls, shifting of voters to other electoral wards, bogus voting and technical snags in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) had impact on polling.
Polling began on a good note as many voters turned up to cast their vote before leaving for their workplace. Many voters on their daily morning walk turned up at their respective polling booth to exercise their vote.
Held after a gap of nine years after a high-octane election campaign by political parties, elections to the Pune Municipap Corporation (PMC) on Thursday did not record any increase in the voter turnout compared to the 2017 polls. Thursday’s polling percentage was 54.50 as against 55.56 per cent in 2017.
With increase in population of the city, rapid urbanisation and extension of civic area, it was expected that the polls for the election of 165 corporators from 41 wards would see a rise in voting percentage. There were a total 35,52,637 voters for Thursday’s polls.
Missing names in electoral rolls, shifting of voters to other electoral wards, bogus voting and technical snags in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) had impact on polling.
Polling was off to a slow start with just 5.5 per cent voting in the first two hours from 7.30 am to 9.30 am on Thursday. However, it later picked up till voting ended at 5.30 pm.
Polling began on a good note as many voters turned up to cast their vote before leaving for their workplace. Many voters on their daily morning walk turned up at their respective polling booth to exercise their vote.
Union minister Murlidhar Mohol and state minister Chandrakant Patil were among those who voted in the morning and appealed to voters to turn out in large numbers.
Many voters struggled to locate their polling booths while a few complained of their names having been deleted from the electoral rolls. Atharva Banatwala (23) said he had voted in the Lok Sabha election and state assembly election in 2024 but his name was missing for the PMC election.
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Activist Vivek Velankar was furious as his son and daughter in law residing together in Sadashiv Peth were made to vote separately at a distance of 5 km and different wards. “This is magic by the PMC administration as they don’t seem to accept the fact that my son and daughter in law stay in the same house in Sadashiv Peth. My son’s name featured in the electoral roll of Sadashiv Peth while my daughter in law had to travel five km to a different ward on Sinhagad Road to cast her vote,” he said.
Ramling Bawkar (75) from Sinhagad Road complained that his name earlier featured in electoral roll with his family in a booth close to the residence but this time the names of other voters from the family were close to their residence but not his. “My name has been put in the electoral roll of another ward which is two km from my residence. How can this happen,” he said.
Some voters complained of confusion due to the panel voting in which four buttons one each EVM had to be pressed for it to be valid. “We were told that there would be four different EVMs and one button of each EVM had to be pressed but there were only three EVMs as two subcategory were in EVM one below the other and there were two separate EVMs for two subcategories,” said Dinesh Pawar.
Later in the day, city Shiv Sena chief Pramod Bhangire contesting from Kondhwa area alleged that the NCP candidates had got 2,500 citizens from outside Pune district for bogus voting. “We have informed the police about it,” he said.
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On Sinhagad Road, NCP leader and state women commission chief Roopali Chakankar said she found unknown citizens from outside the Dhayari area voting in PMC elections and a person was immediately removing the ink mark on their fingers. “I have reached out to state election commission on the ink mark easily being removed leading to fear of repeated voting from the citizens,” she said.
In Kasba peth area, party workers barged into a polling booth after there was some technical snag in EVM in middle of polling and alleged BJP was behind it.
According to PMC, a total of 26 control units and 76 ballot units had to be replaced due to technical snags during polling.
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