Pune & Pimpri-Chinchwad Civic Bodies’ Draft Electoral Roll Sparks Uproar; 22,809 Objections Filed Against PMC, 10,288 Against PCMC

Pimpri-Chinchwad: Objections and suggestions have piled up in large numbers against the draft ward-wise electoral roll published by the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) for the upcoming elections. With the last day of filing objections and suggestions on Wednesday, a majority of them were received that day. In total, a whopping 10,288 objections and suggestions have been received by the PCMC administration for their draft electoral roll.

Aspiring politicians, socially aware citizens, and existing leaders in the city have displayed their opposition to the draft electoral roll since day one, when it was released. Leaders and workers from both factions of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and other parties have vocally expressed their opposition to the draft electoral roll. Mahavikas Aghadi (MVA) in the city had also protested a few days ago by burning the electoral roll in front of the PCMC Main Administrative Building in Pimpri.

As announced by the Maharashtra State Election Commissioner (SEC), electoral rolls drafted for the Maharashtra State Assembly elections are being used for the PCMC elections. The number of voters up to 1st July 2025 has been taken into consideration. Accordingly, the draft rolls were published. The city encompasses four state assembly constituencies, with a total of 17,13,891 voters -- 6,76,638 in the Chinchwad Assembly constituency (the highest), 6,24,152 in Bhosari, 3,99,811 in Pimpri, and 13,290 in Tathawade village, which falls under the Bhor Assembly constituency.

Accordingly, the draft electoral rolls for wards 1 to 32 were published on 20th November, and the opportunity to file objections was given until 27th November. The deadline for filing objections was then extended until Wednesday (3rd December). Within this period, 10,288 objections have been filed with the eight ward offices and the Electoral Roll Cell. PCMC has suo motu (on its own) filed 275 objections. There have also been 23 complaints regarding duplicate names.

Objections Much Higher Than Last Time, PCMC Urges ‘Patience!’

For the Municipal Corporation elections in 2017, only 722 objections were received on the draft electoral roll. This time, a total of 10,288 objections have been received. Compared to 2017, this number is around 15 times higher.

After the ward-wise electoral roll was divided, 92,664 duplicate voters were found in it. These voters with similar names will be verified. It will be checked whether they are the same person or different individuals. If it is the same person, two stars will be printed next to their name as a duplicate voter. This will allow the voter to cast their vote in only one place. An undertaking will be taken from them for this. The picture regarding duplicate voters will become clearer after the process of hearing objections and suggestions is complete, said PCMC officials.

Deputy Commissioner Sachin Pawar, in charge of PCMC’s Election Department, said, “Eight Deputy Commissioners and eight Ward Officers, along with the necessary staff, have been appointed for the hearing of objections. The process of conducting hearings started as soon as the objections were received. Therefore, hearings on more than 50% of the objections have been completed. A decision on the objections will be taken by 10th December, and the final electoral roll will be published.”

Ward Office-Wise Objections:
A - 818
B - 1,306
C - 2,461
D - 1,480
E - 430
F - 1,668
G - 1,345
H - 780
Electoral Roll Cell - 143

Total Objections: 10,288

PMC Receives 22,809 Objections & Suggestions

Meanwhile, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) published its draft electoral roll on 20th November for the upcoming civic elections, leading to significant public backlash over multiple errors. Despite an initial deadline of 27th November, the SEC extended the window for submissions to 3rd December.

In total, the PMC received 22,809 suggestions and objections seeking corrections to the draft roll. The maximum number of 6,308 suggestions and objections came from the Sinhagad Road ward office area, followed by 5,617 from Nagar Road–Vadgaonsheri.

Criticism centred on errors such as listing voters residing outside civic limits and placing voters under ward offices far from their homes. PMC Commissioner Naval Kishore Ram acknowledged the presence of around three lakh double entries, confirming the civic body lacks the power to delete them but will ensure single voting per person. The PMC has begun hearing these applications, and after verification and necessary changes, the final, corrected ward-wise electoral rolls will be published soon.