Political Interference Alleged in Pune Voter List; PMC Orders Verification Drive
Pune, 1st November 2025: Allegations of political interference have surfaced during the preparation of ward-wise voter lists for the upcoming Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) elections. Following complaints that certain political representatives are allegedly trying to add favourable voters from other wards into their own, the civic administration has ordered a verification of the preliminary voter division.
The Election Department of the PMC is currently finalising the voter lists as part of the pre-election process. As per the State Election Commission’s directions, the civic area has been divided into 14 wards, with the official announcement and reservation details expected on November 11. The city’s 36 lakh voters are being distributed across 41 wards.
PMC Commissioner Navalkishore Ram has appointed two Deputy Commissioners as designated officers to oversee the process. However, complaints have emerged alleging that some aspirants from the ruling party, with the help of civic staff, have been shifting the names of unfavourable voters to neighbouring wards while adding supporters to their own.
Sources revealed that due to these alleged manipulations, the number of voters in certain wards has risen sharply to between 1.25 lakh and 1.5 lakh, while others have fewer than 65,000. In several border areas, discrepancies have reportedly been confirmed where voters’ names were moved across ward boundaries.
Taking note of the issue, the PMC’s Election Department has initiated a verification exercise. Assistant Commissioners have been assigned ward-wise responsibilities to inspect boundary lines and verify voter entries with the help of assistant officers.
Commissioner Ram has directed that the verification be completed within two days. A total of 28 officers have been deployed for this exercise. The list of designated officers was announced by Ravi Pawar, the official in charge of voter list management.
