Ahmedabad witnessed significant voter inconvenience during the municipal corporation elections on Sunday as numerous residents found their names missing from the electoral rolls. In the Ramol-Hathijan ward, about 1,000 residents from 303 households in Pushpak City were unable to vote, with only one woman managing to cast her ballot. These residents have been regular voters for the past eight years.
Residents Question Election Process
Bakul Thakkar, a society member, raised concerns about the election process, stating that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) may not have been conducted properly. "All these residents voted in previous elections, but their names have been removed this time. This should not have happened. Only one woman's name appeared on the entire list," Thakkar said.
Similar complaints emerged from other eastern localities. Vishal Saroj, a daily wager from Rakhial who was supposed to vote in Bapunagar ward, could not find his name. "I kept moving from one place to another to find my name on the voters' list, but it was missing this time," he said.
Allegations of Authority Negligence
Muzammil Ansari, another daily wager, blamed the authorities. "I was not present when the SIR was carried out in my society, which may be the reason. However, my family members submitted all required documents, yet my name was deleted," he said.
Suresh Patel, a resident of Science City Road, visited the polling booth with his wife. "We have been voting together for years, so it came as a shock that my name was on the list, but my wife's name was missing. We took part in the recent voter list updation exercise and submitted all the required documents. It was strange that her name did not appear. We have already raised the issue with the BLO to ensure it does not recur in the next election," he said.
Widespread Confusion Across Wards
As lakhs of citizens turned out to vote, many Amdavadis were left searching for their names in the electoral rolls. Some complained of no intimation from the Election Commission or political parties, while others had to run from one place to another to locate their names.
Ranna Parmar, a resident of South Bopal, found her name listed under a similarly named society instead of her own. "I had to go to that society, locate the polling booth and approach the staff on duty to check if my name was there. To my surprise, it was included in that list. This happened despite a recent roll update," she said.
Rohit Patel, a social worker from the Science City area, knew of at least two voters who had deleted their names from old addresses and got them transferred. "Despite that, they could not vote in this election due to lack of proper updates," he said.
Lack of Booth Slips and Poor Signage
The elections also saw confusion due to lack of basic facilitation. Unlike the 2024 Lok Sabha and 2022 Gujarat assembly elections, voters were not provided slips indicating their polling booths. The Gujarat State Election Commission did not deploy booth-level officers to distribute slips, forcing many voters to spend hours locating their booths.
In several areas, voters were directed to new polling locations instead of those used earlier. Complaints were reported from Bodakdev, Thaltej, Nava Vadaj, Stadium, Navrangpura and Paldi, where voters moved between centres in the heat before finding the correct booths. In some western wards, polling station names and booth numbers were not prominently displayed, increasing confusion at centres housing multiple booths. Voters were also surprised to find that VVPAT machines were not installed alongside EVMs.
Clash Between Congress and BJP Workers
Tension flared on Sunday afternoon when Congress and BJP workers clashed at the VV Tomar School polling station in Kubernagar ward. Police intervened and dispersed the groups after considerable effort. No complaint was filed following the incident.
