India

What happened in Maharashtra civic polls?

The civic polls were held in Maharashtra after a whopping nine years.

Credit : Indie Journal

 

From changing rules at the last moment to disappearing ink, the long-awaited civic polls in Maharashtra were marred by irregularities, brought to light by citizens and political leaders on social media. The civic polls were held in Maharashtra after a whopping nine years. However, as the news of irregularities kept coming in, people have been questioning the credibility of the electoral process in these polls.

 

Disappearing ink

The most talked about controversy of the polling day began when several voters noticed that the officials at the polling booth were using regular easily erasable marker pens instead of the authorised indelible ink to mark voters after they had cast their votes. The indelible ink, that is usually used to mark the finger of the voters upon casting their vote, can produce a stain that could stay on your finger for up to several weeks. This time, many voters posted videos on their social media handles showing that the stain on their finger was easily removable with a nail polish remover or a sanitiser.

“I saw that the marker that was being used was a Corum company marker, we have all seen these markers. We know this popular stationery company,” said senior journalist Bhakti Chapalgaonkar in a video she posted on Facebook. Chapalgaonkar was one of the first people to verify the allegations that the ink on the voters’ fingers was easily erasable. “It erased even more easily than I thought,” she said in her Facebook video.

 

 

After the initial videos, many voters took to their own handles to verify this. Opposition leaders and government officials also showed that this was indeed happening. After some political leaders complained about this, the State Election Commission (SEC) issued a notice stating that if any voter comes to the polling booth for the second time after erasing the ink on their finger, action will be taken against them. The SEC also said that marker pens have been used in the local body elections since new rules were made in 2011. However, many voters have reiterated that they have never seen anything like this happen.

“I am 70 years old. I have been voting since I was around 19 years old. The ink usually does not get erased even up to 10-20 days after voting, no matter what we do. How is it possible that it is getting erased so easily now?” questioned senior journalist Tanaji Kolte.

 

Last minute rule changes

On the last day of the campaigning, the SEC issued a notice stating that door-to-door canvassing was allowed on the last day before polling, even after the campaign had ended. Opposition parties criticised this decision, questioning why the SEC changed the rules at the last moment? While Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) Chief Raj Thackeray said that this broke the election tradition, the BJP retaliated by saying that ‘the opposition parties are criticising this because they don’t have party activists to do door-to-door campaigning for them’.

 

No VVPAT, last minute ‘PADU’

Another blow to the process, as many called it, was the last minute introduction of  Printing Auxiliary Display Units (PADUs) as backup units during counting only in Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections. The decision to use these machines as backup was announced just a day before polling. Opposition parties flagged this questioning why they were not informed of this in advance and why no demonstrations were provided on the use of the same.

 

 

The SEC then came forward clarifying that these units were just backup units, in case the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) faced any technical glitches during the counting process.

Meanwhile, the Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines, which are traditionally used for the purpose of recount and verification of votes, were not used by the SEC in these elections, citing ‘rules’, or the lack thereof. The SEC argued in front of the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court back in November that the five local body Acts, including the Maharashtra Village Panchayats Act, 1959 and the Maharashtra Municipal Corporations Act, 1949, do not provide for VVPAT use.

While the Opposition Parties flagged this, the BJP again alleged it was a tactic to justify their loss.

 

Missing voters, bogus voters

Many voters, especially in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) limits, complained that they were turned away upon arriving at the polling booths, as their names were missing from the voter lists. In fact, senior BJP leader and Forest Minister Ganesh Naik was unable to cast his vote in the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) polls as his name was missing from the voter list at multiple polling stations. 

However, some voters also posted on social media that the many voter lists still carried the names of voters who had passed away.

 

 

“They are doing anything that they want to win the election now, fake voter lists, the amount of money that is distributed. Free and fair election is now a myth,” Kolte said.

Some voters also alleged that the officials at the polling booths were using an app belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to check the names of voters.

 

Unopposed victories

These local body elections were marred by unopposed victories in several seats. Data shows that at least 69 candidates won unopposed, as no other candidate contested against them. However, the voters complained that by not allowing votes to be cast for those candidates, the election commission denied them their right to vote for NOTA (None Of The Above).

 

 

In his Facebook post, Hrishikesh Rangnekar wrote, “I could only vote for two of the four in the panel in my ward. The two other candidates won unopposed. But I was not given the choice of voting for that candidate or NOTA. The commission denied me my fundamental right to vote.”

“Abraham Lincoln defined democracy as the government of the people, by the people, for the people. But former MP Barrister Nath Pai said he had a new definition. He said democracy has become the ‘government of the incompetent, by the corrupt, for the helpless’. Such is the state of affairs now. It’s the people who need to raise their voices and protest now,” Kolte said.

 

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