Pune, 15 January 2026: Voting for the Pune Municipal Corporation election happened peacefully across the city on Thursday, with only small disruptions.
According to PMC Commissioner Naval Kishore Ram, less than one percent of the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) faced technical problems, which is below the normal national average.
A total of 4,011 EVMs were used in Pune. Ram said that usually up to two percent of machines face issues, but Pune performed better due to proper training of polling staff and efficient handling of complaints.
However, several voters reported problems with the voter list. In some cases, members of the same family were assigned to different polling booths. Many voters also complained that their polling stations were far from their homes, leading to frustration and confusion.
There were also allegations of bogus voting and malfunctioning EVMs. Addressing these concerns, Ram said the administration had taken special care to prevent duplicate and fake voting. He added that only one complaint of bogus voting was received, and it was later found to be baseless.
Explaining the voter list issues, Ram said that the lists are prepared ward-wise and polling booth-wise, and then approved by the Election Commission. Errors can happen due to incorrect or incomplete addresses and human mistakes, which occur in every election, not just municipal polls.
“Our main focus was to prevent people whose names appear more than once from voting more than once. We achieved that goal. Overall, the election process was conducted peacefully and smoothly,” Ram said.
Despite the inconvenience faced by some voters, officials maintained that the system worked as intended and the integrity of the election was protected.
