Protests continued on Friday at the Pune Council Hall, with angry residents protesting against their names being missing from the voters' lists.
The drama began on Thursday evening, with residents from across the city, especially from the Kothrud and Sinhagad Road neighbourhoods, gathering outside the hall, after voting ended at 5 pm. The protestors claimed over 100,000 voters' names were missing from the electoral rolls. Angry voters gheraoed the district collector, Saurabh Rao, later in the evening.
Ramesh and Neeta Joshi, residents of Kothrud, have been staying in Pune for 60 years and have always exercised their right to vote. "Despite having voter ID cards and having voted in the past municipal election, we were forced to leave the polling booth," said Neeta Joshi.
Even Satish Mathur, the city's police commissioner, and noted Bollywood & Marathi cinema actor-director Amol Palekar could not find their names on the voters' list. "I had submitted Form 6 for registration as a voter after I moved here but my name was not on the list. I could not find it on the website, too," said Mathur.
District Collector Rao on Friday said, "I will take the observers' recommendation and opinion and send it to the state election committee and the chief electoral officer. The district collectorate has set up a help desk and asked people who were not able to vote yesterday to register their names."
The protest took a political turn on Thursday, with representatives of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) and the Aam Aadmi Party joining the residents to register their protest. Anil Shirole, the BJP candidate from Pune began an indefinite hunger strike in front of the Council Hall and demanded a re-election in Pune. Several RTI activists have joined Shirole in the protest.
Pune voted on Thursday, recording a 53.46 per cent voter turnout, 13 per cent more than in 2009. The BJP's Anil Shirole and Deepak Paigude of the MNS are up against Congress candidate Vishwajit Kadam.
The higher turnout in Thursday's polling has triggered speculation as to whether change is in the air, especially when tainted member of Parliament Suresh Kalmadi's absence had left the field wide open.
The drama began on Thursday evening, with residents from across the city, especially from the Kothrud and Sinhagad Road neighbourhoods, gathering outside the hall, after voting ended at 5 pm. The protestors claimed over 100,000 voters' names were missing from the electoral rolls. Angry voters gheraoed the district collector, Saurabh Rao, later in the evening.
Ramesh and Neeta Joshi, residents of Kothrud, have been staying in Pune for 60 years and have always exercised their right to vote. "Despite having voter ID cards and having voted in the past municipal election, we were forced to leave the polling booth," said Neeta Joshi.
Even Satish Mathur, the city's police commissioner, and noted Bollywood & Marathi cinema actor-director Amol Palekar could not find their names on the voters' list. "I had submitted Form 6 for registration as a voter after I moved here but my name was not on the list. I could not find it on the website, too," said Mathur.
District Collector Rao on Friday said, "I will take the observers' recommendation and opinion and send it to the state election committee and the chief electoral officer. The district collectorate has set up a help desk and asked people who were not able to vote yesterday to register their names."
The protest took a political turn on Thursday, with representatives of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) and the Aam Aadmi Party joining the residents to register their protest. Anil Shirole, the BJP candidate from Pune began an indefinite hunger strike in front of the Council Hall and demanded a re-election in Pune. Several RTI activists have joined Shirole in the protest.
Pune voted on Thursday, recording a 53.46 per cent voter turnout, 13 per cent more than in 2009. The BJP's Anil Shirole and Deepak Paigude of the MNS are up against Congress candidate Vishwajit Kadam.
The higher turnout in Thursday's polling has triggered speculation as to whether change is in the air, especially when tainted member of Parliament Suresh Kalmadi's absence had left the field wide open.
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