A day after thousands of Punekars complained that their names were missing from the electoral rolls, a group of politicians and citizens, led by BJP’s lok Sabha candidate from Pune Anil Shirole and activist Vinita Deshmukh, on Friday went on a day-long fast on the Council Hall premises in Pune, demanding a fresh poll.
The aggrieved Punekars — who had gheraoed District Collector Saurab Rao on Thursday night for their failure to exercise their voting rights because of the disappearance of their names from the electoral rolls — joined Shirole, Deshmukh and others in their protests on the Council Hall premises on Friday.
Shirole, Deshmukh and other ended their fast on Friday night, after the district administration assured the aggrieved citizens it would look into their complaints and explore the ways to resolve the issue.
After the citizens mounted pressure on the district administration, the Collector agreed to set up a special cell to receive formal complaints from the citizens, who could not exercise their franchise owing to the disappearance of their names from the voters’ lists, on Saturday.
A BJP delegation, led by Shirole, will meet Chief Election Commissioner VS Sampath in New Delhi on Saturday and air the grievances of thousands of Punekars, who could not exercise their voting rights on Thursday, despite their possessing the voter identity cards issued by the EC.
Vinita Deshmukh, convener of ‘Power of People Forum,’ appealed to lodge formal complaints about their failure to vote, with the special cell set at the district collectorate, on Saturday. She charged that names of over a lakh people from Pune had been deliberately deleted from the electoral rolls.
“Over one lakh names have been deleted with a malicious intent and with the support of ruling parties and officials at the Pune Collector office. Among those whose names have been deleted are those who have voted for the last 20 to 30 years and those who had even checked their names in the last month or fortnight. The aggrieved citizens are also the ones belonging to particular communities and have surnames like Jains, Patels or certain castes of Maharashtrians,” Deshmukh said.