Chaos reigns during voters’ enrollment in Pune

On the last day of the ‘Be a voter’ drive conducted by the district election office in the twin township of Pimpri-Chinchwad, massive chaos was reported from the enrollment centres. Citizens going to the centres for enrollment claimed their forms were rejected.

The state election commission (SEC) had conducted the campaign between October 1 and 31 to clear all doubts regarding voting rights of citizens. Tuesday was the last day for it. Several citizens claimed they had taken leave, keeping aside regular work, to sign up at the enrolment centres. 

ST Walke, a resident of Pimpri,  had gone to the Anna Saheb Magar stadium in Pimpri to make a correction and for enrolling  his son’s name in the voters’ list.

He told DNA, “There was a 2-hour lunch break for the staff from 1 to 3 pm. But the authorities did not accepted my forms.”

Shiv Sena activists Gauri Ghante also made similar allegations and claimed only forms from corporators were accepted. “The staff only accepted the forms submitted by corporators and ignored hundreds of citizens who turned up to enroll,” he claimed.

There are nearly 800 centres in Pimpri-Chinchwad for the voting list. Citizens said several centres were shut down.

Deputy district election officer, Apurva Wankhede, denied any wrongdoing by the staff, but clarified that the staff was not accepting forms given in bunches by representatives of political parties. “As per the law individual forms are accepted. We refused to accept forms in bulk,” she said.