Amod Jore, a 19-year-old student from Khalsa College in Wadala, was excited to vote for the very first time on Thursday, but little did he know that it would turn into a nightmarish experience.
After Jore reached the polling station in Sion, to his surprise, the staff on duty there didn't allow him to cast his vote because he didn't have a voting slip. His parents tried to explain to the officials that he had checked his name on the electoral roll online and it should reflect in their list.
"There was a lot of confusion at the government's end. I felt discouraged when they refused to accept my driver's licence as a valid identification document. My parents and I argued with the officials for two hours until I was finally allowed to vote," said Jore.
Similar problems were in store for Prathamesh Shinde, 24, who works with Maersk Global Services in Kalyan, and not for the first time. Even though he had applied for a voter's ID card in 2009, his name never appeared in the electoral roll at the time. This time around, he said, he presented himself at the registration office again and showed them the receipt for his voting card. "I was assured that my name would appear in the roll this time but, sadly, it did not. The experience has disillusioned me. Youngsters should be encouraged to cast their vote not obstructed," he said.
Krutika Sawant, a 22-year-old Accenture employee from Dombivli, had complaints as well. Even though she submitted her documents at the Election Commission (EC) office over a month ago, her name did not appear in the voters' list online. She persevered and, hoping for the best, went to her polling booth, but her name wasn't present on the list there as well.
"This is a clear case of failure of the government machinery. I really wanted to vote and be a part of the change. Now, I cannot criticise the government that comes to power because I haven't voted. All my friends cast their vote, but I have been forced to remain just an onlooker," said Sawant.
Siblings Sagar, 20, and Tanvi Shah, 25, residents of Jer Bai Wadia Road in Parel, were two among the several who couldn't find their names on the voting list. "I had heard that names of third- and fourth-time voters from our building were missing from the list. We went to the Sarkar Nagar polling booth in Wadala to cast our votes and officials there told us that since our names are missing we should let it go and vote in the Vidhan Sabha elections. But why should we suffer because of the government's inefficiency?" asked Sagar angrily. His friends Priyank Sarmalkar, Suresh Babaria, Aniket, Deepak and Pranali Shelar also encountered the same problem.
Over 30 first-time voters of the Ram Nivas building in the same area found themselves in the same situation. "This time, the lists are full of errors. Many individuals' addresses have been changed and, in some cases, the husband's name is printed but wife and children's names are not included. We registered over 30 names of first-time voters from this area, but only eight have appeared. There are 5,000 or more names pending from this ward. BMC employees entrusted with election duty are clueless," said Deepak Pardeshi, a Shiv Sena party worker from the area.
(Preeti Kulkarni reports for Iamin.in DNAofIndia, India's Hyperlocal News Network)
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