Bogus voting, names missing, polling slowdown: Citizens complain of difficulties in voting in Mumbai

Reports of bogus voting also emerged in Mumbai North East’s Bhandup pocket when 39-year-old Kadar Abdul Iqbal produced his voter card to polling officials only to find a tick mark against his name. He was informed that somebody had already voted on his behalf.

“When I complained to the polling officers, they told me that nothing can be done and asked me to leave,” Iqbal said. Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Ramesh Korgaonkar later visited the polling station to inquire about the issue.

For a larger number of voters who arrived at their polling booths, the absence of their names from the electoral list came as a shock and led to them getting frustrated on Monday, with many returning home without casting their votes.

Shrirang Rohidas Mane, a 77-year-old resident of Dharavi’s Saqueenabai Chawl was in for a shock after he found his name was missing from the voters’ list. “My son and daughter-in-law both voted at this booth along with many other neighbours. However, my name is not on the list here,” said Mane, who was born and brought up in Dharavi and has voted in all elections. Mane was in Satara, his hometown, but came to Dharavi by train on Sunday only to vote.

As the city experienced high humidity on Monday, voters queueing outside several polling booths to vote also complained about the lack of shades, shelters or fans.

In several pockets of the city, voter woes multiplied with many citizens claiming that the polling was slowed down for a while such as in Borivali’s Ashok Van, where a long queue of voters was seen on Monday afternoon. When The Indian Express inquired, voters like Avinash Palkar (45) said they were able to cast their votes only after waiting for almost an hour in the line here.

Flagging these concerns, Congress city unit chief and its candidate for North Central constituency Varsha Gaikwad tweeted, “Many of them say they have never waited this long to vote before. There are also complaints that this phenomenon is more visible in areas where INDIA-MVA has a strong presence,” she claimed on social media platform X. She sought the ECI’s intervention and also to increase voting time ‘ for Mumbaikars who braved the sweltering heat’ by an hour.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aadesh Bandekar complained that EVM machines in booth numbers 57 and 58 at Hiranandani Foundation school in Powai had stopped working and people were not able to cast their votes. Some of them, including senior citizens, left the polling centre without voting as they had to wait for two to three hours. The EC issued a statement that the issue was addressed and with EVM machines being replaced, the voting started smoothly.

At locations such as the Marol Education Academy (MEA) polling centre in Andheri (east), citizens who did not have polling slips had a difficult time getting help from polling agents who were mobbed by voters trying to locate their names on the polling lists.

Many residents complained about not being able to vote despite furnishing their official identity documents like Aadhar cards. Taking to social media, actor Gauhar Khan said, “Why do we have Aadhar cards if we are not considered citizens enough to vote? Your Aadhar card is your identity that you are an Indian citizen and you should be able to vote with that. We go with the Aadhar card, ID proof, they say you cannot vote. So I am just making a humble appeal, that on the basis of your Aadhar card, you must be allowed to vote as an Indian citizen.”

Several senior citizens across the city aired concerns over the lack of adequate arrangements for them.

A specially-abled voter from Kalyan constituency’s Dombivli (East) Jitendra Kathrani, 53, also said that adequate arrangements were not made for specially-abled voters. “The voting centre should be at a place which is accessible for the vehicles of special abled persons. They could enter the centre in the vehicle and get down and go to voting booth. Just providing a wheel chair is not sufficient,” said Kathrani who cast his vote at a centre in Dombivli with his wife Chetna, who is a cancer patient.