Pune Elections: PMC Accepts Over 47,000 Objections, Restores 92,466 Voters To Original Wards

Out of the 65,000 objections received regarding the draft voter list released for the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) elections, the administration has accepted 47,063. As a result, the names of 92,466 voters have been re-included in their original wards. This provides significant relief to both aspiring candidates and voters.

Pune Municipal Commissioner Naval Kishore Ram shared this information during a press conference. Also present were Additional Commissioner Om Prakash Divte, Election Department Head Prasad Katkar, and Authorised Voter List Officer Ravi Pawar. The Municipal Corporation published the draft list on November 20, after which a surge of complaints emerged regarding voters being moved from one ward to another. Initially, the PMC maintained that changes could only be made if the individual voter complained, citing Election Commission rules.

However, after many such complaints of “vote chori” across the state, the Election Commission took direct notice. It issued clear orders stating that the Commissioner has the authority to take suo motu notice of general complaints and reassign voters to their correct wards.

Following the Election Commission’s directive to take suo motu action, the PMC took notice of 43,000 complaints on its own. Additionally, citizens had filed 22,000 individual complaints. After receiving these 65,000 total complaints, the administration accepted 47,000 and rejected 18,000.

Due to the accepted objections, approximately 92,466 voters who had been shifted to different wards have been restored to their original locations.

However, since the Corporation has not individually notified the complainants or voters of these restorations, voters will now have to verify the changes themselves.

Additional Commissioner Om Prakash Divte clarified that most of the 18,000 rejected objections were accompanied by false or forged documents. In some cases, objections were rejected because, although the name appeared on the list, address details were missing.

Many objections included fake voter IDs, electricity bills, and Aadhaar cards. He claimed that these objections were rejected after thorough verification and on-site inspections.