Lokmat News Network
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:
Massive discrepancies have come to light in the voter lists released for the municipal elections. In some wards, at least 2,500 to 3,000 voters have been shown under entirely different wards, leaving aspirant candidates shocked. By Monday evening, more than 200 objections had already been filed. The number is expected to rise significantly over the next three days.
The State Election Commission handed over updated voter lists valid till July 1, 2025 to the Municipal Corporation for the upcoming elections. The administration formed ward-wise teams to scrutinize these lists. Ideally, teams were expected to survey ward boundaries on-site before preparing the lists. However, most teams completed the work from office desks without visiting the wards. Now the discrepancies are surfacing. Aspirants studying the lists at the municipal headquarters have found that thousands of voters are missing. To trace where these voters have been shifted, aspirants now have to manually check lists of two to three neighbouring wards.
Public, aspirants expressing anger
Citizens who arrived at the election department on Monday to file objections created a commotion. Some individuals even confronted assistant commissioner Rutuja Patil, forcing her to leave the office. Security guards were deployed afterward, but by then the angry citizens had already dispersed.
3,500 Voters from ward 9 shifted to ward 10
Ward No. 9 which includes Hinanagar, Brijwadi, Masnatpur, Artinagar, Misarwadi, and Savitrinagar originally had 39,679 voters. After list division, the count dropped to 35,928. A total of 3,751 voters were moved to Ward 10. Similarly, 1,500 to 2,000 voters from Ward 24 were listed under Ward 26. Names of several voters, including former Congress group leader Bhausaheb Jagtap, are missing. Some voters from Ward 18 have been placed under Ward 28.
Corrections will be made
“Corrections will be carried out based on the objections received. Printing errors, if any, will be sent to the Commission. These lists are provisional; the objection and suggestion process exists precisely for corrections,” said deputy commissioner Vikas Nawale.
Photo caption:
In the voter list, even the name and address of a voter are unreadable.