E-Paper
Voter names in Pune’s Hadapsar, Kondhwa missing from lists; no intimation of polling centre changes
Voters were not informed about the change of polling centres at Wadgaonsheri and Hadapsar centres. The voters visited their old polling centres but, were guided to their immediate neighbourhood centres to search for their names
Assembly elections kicked off to a troubled start on Monday as residents complained of their names missing from the voters’ list in Hadapsar, NIBM road and Kondhwa gaothan areas.
The other problems the voters faced included glitches in the electronic voting machine, non-updated online searches and poor access to infrastructure at polling booths.
Sameer Gore, a resident of NIBM, said, “I have my voter identity card and voted during the recent Lok Sabha elections but, my name was missing from the list this time. So I could not vote.”
Former Kondhwa-NIBM corporator Tanaji Lonkar said, “Names of at least 300 voters from NIBM and Kondhwa gaothan were missing. Some voters from Kondhwa found their names in centres at Kondhwa Budruk, Mohammadwadi and Mundhwa. So many senior citizens were inconvenienced due to this.”
Voters were not informed about the change of polling centres at Wadgaonsheri and Hadapsar centres. The voters visited their old polling centres but, were guided to their immediate neighbourhood centres to search for their names.
Qaneez Sukhrani, a senior citizen and secretary of Nagrik Chetna Manch, who had to drive one kilometre to reach to her polling centre said, “I am a senior citizen having various leg-related ailments but, I was informed about the change in the voting centre after I reached the centre where I usually vote. There was no official communication regarding the change in the centre.”
“Since the past three elections, I have not received the voter slip at my residence. I wish to inform that contrary to all the press notes given by the election branch, Pune, staff were in a confused state in polling booths in Vimannagar which comes under the Wadgaonsheri assembly constituency,” said Sukhrani.
Meanwhile, a glitch was reported in an electronic voting machine (EVM) in Wadgaonsheri at Baburao Tingre School because of which voters were inconvenienced.
According to district collector Naval Kishore Ram, 367 cases were reported in which EVMs were replaced in the district against 8,000 EVMs. At 100 polling stations around 47 ballot unit were replaced because of moisture related issue.”
“Wadgoansheri and Shivajinagar reported highest cases related to EVM functioning,” Ram said.
Percentage of voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines replacement was 4.6 per cent in district as a result of cloudy and moisture like condition many VVPAT machines were disfunctional and were immediately replaced, according to Ram.
“Issues related to EVM and VVPAT were reported till 12 pm after enough sun rays moisture issue was resolved,” said Ram.
