Pune: A day after PMC published the draft voters’ list for 41 wards for the civic poll, aspirants and political parties from various areas raised concern about the shifting of names from one ward to neighbouring wards which could hamper their prospects. Aspirants are conducting detailed studies of the lists to identify instances where names are missing or have been moved to other wards.A former corporator and aspirant from Sahakarnagar area said, “It appears that the names of voters residing near the boundaries of wards have been shifted to neighbouring wards. A single list has around 1,000 names, if the entire list goes to another ward, it will create trouble for voters. We are still in the process of identifying such names, areas, or housing societies that have moved to other wards. Objections will be submitted before the election department of the PMC for rectification.“PMC has uploaded the draft voters’ lists of all 41 wards on its website for inspection where as many as 35,51,000 voters have been listed. The lists are also available for inspection in the 15 ward offices.NCP (SP)’s city unit chief Prashant Jagtap said there was abrupt division of voters’ lists. Prima facie, he added, it looked like there are discrepancies, with most pertaining to the listing of names in other wards and their party workers will raise objections. “Earlier, the ruling Mahayuti attempted to introduce changes in the ward boundaries. Now, the voters are being shifted to other wards in an illogical manner. Such attempts will not favour it. We do not want the voters’ lists with discrepancies to impact the voting,” he added.A former corporator from Gokhalenagar area said that he received updates from his supporters that the names of some voters have been shifted to other wards. “We are checking and will file objections with PMC,” he added. Anticipating mistakes, the Congress had conducted a special session for its workers last week on how to inspect the lists. A senior leader said that it appears that they have not been divided logically and there are mistakes that may affect voting. “Our workers are minutely checking the lists. Some have decided to approach the election office,” a functionary said.A former BJP corporator said that the names of some voters are missing from his ward’s list. “We have told voters to approach us if they fail to find their names.”
