Pune Municipal Corporation Elections 2026: Congress Candidate Alleges Voting Didn’t Begin In Mangalwar Peth Till 8:30 AM Due To 'EVM Fault'

Congress candidate Rahul Sharma from Pune’s Ward No. 24 has alleged that voting did not begin till 8:30 am due to a “fault” in the electronic voting machine (EVM).

“People have been waiting in queues since 7 am. But the polling did not start at the scheduled time of 7:30 am. There has been a fault in the EVM machine. Neither the technician knows what the problem is, nor is the polling officer aware,” Sharma said.

“The people have not been allowed to vote. Is this some conspiracy? There are four rooms, but the voting hasn’t begun. One hour has been lost. Is the administration going to give an extra hour for voting? Is this election only a mere exercise of democracy, or is this really a festival of democracy?” he asked.

Meanwhile, polling is underway in Pune for 163 seats, as two candidates -- Manjusha Nagpure and Shrikant Jagtap from Ward No. 35 -- have already been elected unopposed.

A total of 4,011 polling stations have been set up across Pune city. For this purpose, 13,862 ballot units and 5,321 control units have been made available.

The police deployment includes 14 Deputy Commissioners of Police, 30 Assistant Commissioners of Police, seven probationary ACPs, 166 Police Inspectors, 723 Assistant and Sub-Inspectors, 12,500 police personnel, 3,250 Home Guards and four companies of the State Reserve Police Force (SRPF).

To prevent malpractices and ensure a fearless voting environment, the Commissionerate has deployed 18 fixed surveillance teams, 15 mobile surveillance teams and 15 video surveillance teams.