Pimpri-Chinchwad: Following allegations of mistakes in the voters list for the upcoming Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) elections, PCMC Commissioner Shravan Hardikar immediately held a meeting with officials of the Election Department, officials announced on Thursday. Commissioner Hardikar instructed the officials to strictly carry out corrections based on the objections and suggestions received, ensuring that voters are not deprived of their right to vote. Allegations of misplaced names, double and triple registrations, and numerous other mistakes have surfaced in the voter list released by the PCMC administration earlier this week.
A full-fledged protest took place on Tuesday by Mahavikas Aghadi (MVA) workers in the city, where slogans were raised against the PCMC administration, and voter lists were burnt to make their point clear. Following this, PCMC Chief Shravan Hardikar has ordered the changes and verifications in an urgent meeting he chaired.
Additional Commissioner Vijay Kumar Khorate, Joint Commissioner Manoj Lonkar, City Engineer Makarand Nikam, Deputy Commissioner of the Election Department Sachin Pawar, and Chief Engineers Sanjay Kulkarni and Pramod Ombhase were present on this occasion.
Commissioner Hardikar stated that it is essential for every voter’s record to be correct and updated to maintain the fundamental right of citizens to vote. For this, he directed officials to thoroughly verify citizens’ information, including name, address, age, modifications, new inclusions, and deleted entries. He further instructed them to accept and create a detailed plan for resolving the objections and suggestions received from citizens during the draft electoral roll process.
Commissioner Hardikar also suggested that the electoral roll will be more accurate and up-to-date if all matters, including verification of information, scrutinising documents, change of address, name correction, and new entries, are properly categorised by coordinating with the relevant departments. He further suggested deploying additional staff to act on the objections and suggestions raised by citizens regarding the draft electoral rolls.
Hardikar also stated that duplicate voter names from the 32 wards in the draft electoral roll should be removed. Preparation for finalising polling stations and setting up temporary polling stations where necessary should be made. A strong room for the voting machines should be established. He said that he would inspect the polling stations to ensure voters face no difficulties and that the election process is conducted transparently and smoothly.
Regarding the voters list mistake, Yogesh Behl, Pimpri-Chinchwad City President for the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), said, “Information about the errors in the electoral roll has been given to Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar. I met with the Commissioner regarding this and demanded that the errors in the list be corrected.”
Bharatiya Janata Party’s MLC Amit Gorakhe said, “There are more than four hundred duplicate voters in all the wards of the Pimpri assembly constituency. Names from other constituencies have appeared in Pimpri. The Election Department should work properly. The work of dividing the electoral rolls was done sitting in the office. This has caused a mess in the rolls. The discrepancies in the lists should be removed.”