EC notice to 76 candidates for continuing to campaign on social media

An media blitz exhorting voters to exercise their mandate ensured a fairly robust turnout across a total 73 panels in the high-stakes Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporations election on Tuesday.

While 26.43 lakh voters were registered to cast votes for Pune Municipal Corporation, the final polling figure of 55.5%, showed a marked improvement from the 2012 civic poll figure of 51%, which was said to be the lowest in decades. The PMC has 41 panels which will elect 162 corporators from the 1,090 candidates in the fray.

If the PMC turnout was a bit disappointing despite the high pitched campaign, the voters were more enthusiastic in Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) with the final polling figure clocking at 54.84%.

Nearly 12 lakh voters were registered for the PCMC, where voting took place across 32 panels which will elect 128 corporators. In all, 774 candidates are in the fray here.

Leaders vote

Several notables turned out to cast their votes in the city, with Union Minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Prakash Javadekar casting his vote at the P. Jog School in the Kothrud area while incumbent Mayor Prashant Jagtap of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) voted at the city’s Wanowrie panel during the first half of the day.

Pune Guardian Minister and senior BJP leader Girish Bapat was seen casting his vote in Shaniwar Peth area while Shiv Sena MLC Neelam Gorhe cast her vote in the Model Colony panel.

“Every election is different in the prevailing political context at the State and Central levels. The social mood is one of yearning for tolerance,” Ms. Gorhe said, in a veiled rebuke to the BJP, when pressed about the poll outcome in Pune.

While polling was generally peaceful amid tight security, the day was not without its share of chaos. Incidents ranging from malfunction of EVMs to complaints of names missing from voter lists were reported from across the city even as the voting commenced in full swing in the morning.

Vote-break for techies

The city’s IT sector, which constitutes a formidable section of the populace, was not given a ‘full holiday’, but a substantive voting break to permit employees to exercise their franchise.

“While no holiday has been given to IT sector professionals, employees have been given a two-hour break during the voting period to enable them to cast their vote and return to work,” informed Anil Patwardhan, president, Hinjewadi Industries Association.

In Pimpri-Chinchwad, a malfunction in an EVM in ward no. 21 caused activists from the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena to create a ruckus and temporarily stop the voting process.

Ugly scenes

In fact, voting throughout the area was marred by unruly instances, with BJP aspirant Dhanna Aswani alleging that he was assaulted by NCP candidate Dabbu Aswani.

According to the police, Dabbu Aswani, a former deputy mayor of Pimpri-Chinchwad, got angry on seeing Dhanna Aswani at the voting booth in Pimprigaon, alongwith a clutch of his BJP supporters. This led Dabbu Aswani to attack his opponent thinking he was attempting to influence the voting process.

“The police were quick to nip any tension in the bud. The matter was swiftly resolved and decorum restored,” said Inspector Vivek Mungalikar.

EC notices

Earlier in the day, the PCMC election department issued notices to 76 candidates from various political parties for allegedly campaigning on social media even after the expiry of campaign deadline.

More than 700 police officers had been deployed to keep an eye on the law and order situation with , an additional 7,500 volunteers to aid them.