The orders say the guidelines of the Election Commission of India stipulate prohibiting use of cellphones in the 100m radius of polling stations. (Express photo by Arul Horizon)
HOURS before the Pune city, Shirur and Maval Lok Sabha constituencies go to polls, confusion prevailed among voters as to whether they will be allowed to carry their cellphones inside the polling centres. The Pune city police clarified that the voters will have to switch off their cellphones before they enter the polling centres.
”Ideally, the cellphones should be kept outside the polling centres. But if the voters have no place to keep the cellphones, they will have to switch it off before they enter the polling centre and cast their vote,” a top Pune police officer told The Indian Express.
When contacted, District Collector Suhas Diwase said the cellphones have been banned within 100 metre radius of the polling centres in Pune, Maval and Shirur. ”This is not the first time such an order has been issued. The order has been issued every election. However, this time, the Election Commission has asked us to implement the ban on cellphones strictly. The police commissioner and Superintendent of Police police have also been issued directions accordingly,” said Diwase even as he appealed to citizens to keep their cellphones at home or in their vehicles and not bring them to the polling centres.
#Pune Collector & District Election Officer Suhas Diwase said the voters in the district will not be allowed to take cellphones inside (100 meter periphery of polling booths) so as to ensure secrecy of the voting process.
When asked about the possibility of the order discouraging citizens from exercising their franchise, Pune Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar said, ”We will implement the directives strictly. At the same time, we will ensure that it does not have adverse impact on voting.”
Sources in the Pune police said, ”It is practically impossible to physically scan every person to find out whether they are carrying the cellphones or not. But we will be directing voters to switch off their phones while entering the polling centres.”
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Chaos and confusion sparked off in the city after the Pune police issued orders prohibiting voters from taking cellphones in the 100 range of polling centres in Pune, Maval and Shirur, which are going to polls on Monday.
Former President of MCCIA Sudhir Mehta said in a post on X, ”The directive from the District Collector Suhas Diwase to prohibit mobile phones (do not carry) within 100 meters of polling stations is concerning and uncalled for. While it’s essential to be extra vigilant about photography and calling, asking citizens to leave their phones at home will discourage voter turnout. This ban may further dampen enthusiasm of voters, and must be rectified.”
Retired high court judge B G Kolse-Patil said, ”The district collector has given a wrong order. It will only discourage voters from coming to the cellphones…what is the problem if voters carry their cellphones inside the polling booth ? My voter slip is in my cellphone. Similarly, many voters will have their slips in their cellphones. The poll officials should not discourage voters from coming to the polling booth by issuing such orders.”
Activist Manav Kamble said,”Are we trying to ensure more voting or are we trying to discourage voters by issuing such orders ? This is not an appropriate move. Also, there should be transparency in poll process. This sounds like the election officials are trying to protect the interest of the parties in power.”
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The cellphone ban order was issued on Saturday night by Joint Police Commissioner (law and order) Praveen Pawar under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure for the Pune City police limits. For other police jurisdictions, similar prohibitory orders were issued by respective authorities.
The order said the guidelines of the Election Commission of India stipulate prohibiting use of cellphones in the 100m radius of polling stations.
In a video message to the voters, district collector Suhas Diwase said, “…When a voter casts his vote, secrecy is a very important tenet of the process…no voter will be allowed to carry cellphones in the 100m range of a polling centre. Every voter is requested to take a note of this. You can keep your cellphones at home or in your vehicle.”
The police order states that it is applicable to the candidates, their representatives and voters. It is not applicable to the polling officials, police and those authorised by the authorities. Those found in violation of the order can face prosecution under Indian Penal Code section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by a public servant).
Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades.
Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives.
Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees.
During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa.
Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died.
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Sushant Kulkarni is a Special Correspondent with The Indian Express in Pune with 12+ years of experience covering issues related to Crime, Defence, Internal Security and Courts. He has been associated with the Indian Express since July 2010.
Sushant has extensively reported on law and order issues of Pune and surrounding area, Cyber crime, narcotics trade and terrorism. His coverage in the Defence beat includes operational aspects of the three services, the defence research and development and issues related to key defence establishments. He has covered several sensitive cases in the courts at Pune.
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