Kolhapur Voters Face Frustration in Municipal Corporation Elections
The four-member ward structure in the Kolhapur Municipal Corporation election created a frustrating experience for many voters on polling day. Numerous citizens struggled to locate their designated polling booths across the city.
Widespread Confusion at Polling Centers
At almost every polling center, voters wandered from one booth to another searching for their correct voting location. Some individuals spent more than an hour trying to find their assigned booth before returning home in anger without casting their votes. The situation worsened because several booths were situated one to two kilometers away from voters' residences, adding significant inconvenience to the electoral process.
Sandeep Chougule, a polling agent, highlighted a critical problem. "We were working with an old voters' list while election officials used a revised version," he explained. "This mismatch caused substantial confusion among voters. If polling centers had been easier to locate, the turnout for the Kolhapur Municipal Corporation election could have increased by four to five percent."
Voters Express Anger and Disappointment
Many voters questioned why their polling centers were changed without proper notification. Bashir Shaikh from Sadar Bazar shared his frustrating experience. "Officials sent me from one polling center to another for over an hour," he said. "They found my wife's name on their lists but couldn't locate mine. Eventually, tired and frustrated, I decided not to vote. Even the officials distributing voter slips seemed completely clueless about the changes. There was absolutely no need to alter polling centers for this KMC election."
Similar chaos was reported in other wards throughout Kolhapur city. Rashmi Bedekar from Nagala Park described her ordeal. "After standing in line for twenty minutes, an official told me I was at the wrong booth," she recounted. "The room number provided at the booth didn't match the one shown on the Voter Setu Portal app. I then had to stand in another queue for fifteen minutes at a different location."
Technical Issues Compound Problems
Rajli Gayakwad from Shivaji Peth faced additional technical difficulties. "The Voter Setu app didn't display my name at all," she said. "When I went to the booth where I had voted in previous Lok Sabha and assembly elections, officials told me it had been shifted two kilometers away. At the new location, booth workers gave me the wrong room number. By the time I reached the correct place, it was 5:30 PM and the booth had already closed. So, I couldn't exercise my voting right."
KMC assistant commissioner Sanjay Sarnaik acknowledged some of the problems. He noted that polling agents from political parties were found giving incorrect information about polling rooms, which created additional confusion among voters.
EVM Malfunctions Disrupt Voting Process
The voting process faced further disruptions due to technical issues with Electronic Voting Machines. Candidates from Wards 12 and 14 alleged that EVM keys were not functioning properly during the election. Election officials later arrived at these locations and resolved the technical problems.
In Ward 8's Lakshatirth Vasahat area, a malfunctioning EVM halted voting for twenty minutes. Election workers replaced the faulty machine, after which polling resumed normally. These technical glitches added to the overall chaos experienced by voters throughout the municipal corporation election day.
The combination of mismatched voter lists, confusing booth locations, technical app failures, and EVM malfunctions created a challenging voting environment for Kolhapur residents. Many citizens expressed disappointment that such basic electoral processes were not better organized for the important municipal corporation elections.
