Low voter turnout, missing names in electoral rolls mar phase 4 of polling in Maharashtra

Maharashtra Lok Sabha polls plagued by low voter turnout, missing names, and technical glitches in fourth phase.

Maharashtra continued to be jinxed by low voter turnout, with the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha polls having ended on Monday, which was marred by several complaints of missing voter names from electoral rolls in the Pune constituency.

The State recorded an overall voter turnout of 52.49% till 5 p.m. with tribal-dominated Nandurbar constituency recording the highest turnout of 60.60% among the 11 constituencies that went to elections. 

The lowest voting percentage was recorded in Pune district, which saw three crucial Lok Sabha seats — Pune, Shirur and Maval — go to polls.

Pune city Congress chief Arvind Shinde raised a complaint of bogus voting. When he reached the voting booth at the city’s Rasta Peth, he was stunned to find that someone had already cast the vote in his name.

Mr. Shinde immediately raised an objection by talking to the presiding officer and was later allowed to vote using the ‘tender vote’ process. A tender vote, detailed in Section 49P of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, is allowed to be cast on ballot paper when a voter realises that someone has already voted in the person’s name and officials are satisfied as to the voter’s identity.

In yet another glitch in the poll process, 49 voting machines in Pune had to be changed due to malfunctioning.

Meanwhile, in Jalgaon in north Maharashtra, the residents of two villages boycotted the election to express their ire against the district administration following the death of four persons, including two children, in a road accident last week.