Anger and suspicion grew among voters in Pune on polling day for the Municipal Corporation elections after it was confirmed that indelible ink is not being used and that marker pens are instead being applied on voters’ fingers to indicate that they have cast their vote.
Voters alleged that this is the first time such a method has been used in the city’s electoral process. They also claimed that the Election Commission did not inform them in advance that markers would be used.
Several voters, particularly from the Sinhagad Road area, said that the marker ink can be easily removed, raising serious concerns about how authorities would prevent double voting.
Jayashree Sunil Deshpande, speaking to The Free Press Journal, said, “My husband voted in Ward No. 35, and the mark wiped off so easily. How can anyone ensure that a person does not vote more than once? Also, we are facing another issue. We are a family of three -- me, my husband and my 25-year-old son -- and we all live under one roof, but our polling booths are different. My husband got Ward 35 and I got Ward 34. It becomes very chaotic, and we don’t understand on what basis these allotments have been made. We, the residents and voters, are not being properly informed by the Election Commission. They should at least make us understand how things are progressing and what new changes have been made.”
Some voters alleged that the change was deliberate and demanded clarity on why the long-established practice of using indelible ink was abandoned without public notice.
Harshal Kulkarni, another voter from Ward No. 34 at Sinhagad Road, said, “The Election Commission did not inform voters in advance that marker pens would be used instead of indelible ink in this election. This is a clear deviation from standard election practice. There was no communication, no circular, no announcement. This is ridiculous. Also, my name appears twice -- once in Ward 33 and again in Ward 34. I voted in Ward 34, but the serious issue here is that the mark was wiped off, and I can go and vote again in Ward 33. This is a serious issue. I have been voting in PMC elections since 2004, and this has never happened. In fact, the ink used earlier would last for more than 15 days after voting.”
Rohit Machale, another voter, said, “This election is rigged. The use of a marker pen is deliberate, and we are just being used. Things are already decided. Why are we even voting? My confidence in the electoral procedure has been undermined.”
