The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) is gearing up for the upcoming civic body elections with extensive preparations to ensure a smooth voting process. The administration is planning to establish more than 4,000 polling stations across the city's 41 electoral wards.
Massive Scale for Pune's Democratic Exercise
The preliminary electoral roll for these wards comprises a substantial 35.51 lakh (3.55 million) electors. To manage this large electorate, each polling station is being designed to cater to approximately 900 to 1,000 voters. Although the State Election Commission (SEC) has not yet announced the official election dates, the civic machinery has proactively begun its groundwork.
Officials from the PMC's election department confirmed that the process of finalizing the locations for these polling booths is already in motion. All ward offices have received instructions to prepare and submit lists of proposed stations. A preliminary list from these wards is anticipated within the next ten days.
Infrastructure and Accessibility Under Scrutiny
"Our teams are currently evaluating several critical factors at each proposed site to ensure voter convenience," stated an election department official. The assessment parameters include accessibility for all citizens, road connectivity, and the availability of basic infrastructure like electricity, water, and sanitation facilities.
The final tally of polling stations will be confirmed only after these initial surveys are completed. Officials have indicated that the number might increase, especially in the newly merged areas that will be participating in the Pune civic polls for the very first time. This inclusion marks a significant expansion of the municipal electoral landscape.
Verifying the Voter List: A Key Priority
Parallel to the logistical planning, the administration is fast-tracking the scrutiny of objections and suggestions received concerning the draft electoral rolls. Citizens had submitted over 22,000 objections before the deadline of December 3. A majority of these complaints pertained to voters' names being incorrectly placed in different wards.
Prasad Katkar, the head of the PMC's election department, provided an update on this front. "Nearly 70% of these objections have already been verified through physical checks and site visits," he said. He added that the remaining verifications are on track to be completed by early next week.
The department is also undertaking suo motu (on its own motion) corrections in instances where large-scale transfers of names between wards are evident, even without formal objections. This proactive step aims to enhance the accuracy of the final list.
The political stakes are high, and parties are closely monitoring the process. A local unit of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has cautioned that it would consider legal recourse if errors in the voter list are not adequately rectified. Party representatives have announced plans to conduct a thorough review once the final electoral rolls are published, which is expected next week.
With these multi-faceted preparations, the Pune civic administration is laying the groundwork for a large-scale democratic event, aiming to facilitate the participation of its millions of residents in shaping the city's future governance.
