Pune: A voter who cast her ballot in 2024 but later moved homes within Pune city now finds herself on the absent, shifted, dead and duplicate list in the draft electoral roll published on Monday. She filled her enumeration form online and got an acknowledgement, but her name has been marked ‘absent/untraceable’.“I registered as a new voter in 2024 but shifted to my permanent residence in Bhugaon. I filled my enumeration form online and have the acknowledgement. Two years later, I am forced to register as a new voter,” she said.Another 58-year-old regular voter, who could not fill the enumeration form as he was unwell, found his name in the same list and applied as a new voter on Tuesday. “I have to do it for my wife too as no BLO visited us,” the Kothrud resident said.Such cases point to the likely pressure on Maharashtra’s election machinery over the next two months, as voters left out of the draft roll during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) seek re-inclusion through Form 6, even as a fresh batch of 18-year-olds becomes eligible to enrol.Of the 2.07 crore enumeration forms classified as uncollectable, 76.76 lakh voters have been categorised as ‘permanently shifted’ and 75.41 lakh as ‘absent/untraceable’. Together, they account for 1.52 crore cases, or 73.5% of the uncollectable pool.This does not mean all 1.52 crore voters will file Form 6. Some may have shifted out of Maharashtra and could be voters elsewhere, some may have died but not identified, while others may not seek re-inclusion. But even a fraction returning to the rolls could translate into a substantial workload.“I have been living at the same address and voting from here. My name is missing from the draft roll, I will have to apply again. The authorities should ensure genuine voters do not have to run from one place to another to prove they are still living here,” another voter with her name in the absent, shifted,dead, duplicate list said.If a voter was simply not available when the enumeration form was given out, that should not make the person disappear from the electoral roll, she added. “There should be an easy way to get the name restored,” another voter, who said no BLO had contacted her, said. “BLOs held camps, so untraced and shifted voters are bound to turn up in huge numbers,” she said.The State CEO office has maintained that being categorised as uncollectable does not amount to final deletion. Eligible voters whose names are missing from the draft roll can file Form 6 during the claims and objections period, which ends on Sept 30.The same period will see Form 6 applications from those who have attained, or will attain, 18 years of age on or before Oct 1, 2026. “We have to process these applications as per the given timeline. It will definitely increase our workload,’’ an election department official said.High volume from PuneThe pressure is likely to be the highest in Pune, Thane and Mumbai Suburban, which together account for about 83.84 lakh uncollectable cases, nearly 40.5% of Maharashtra’s total.Pune alone has 28.66 lakh electors outside the draft roll. Of these, around 17.82 lakh are absent/untraceable and 5.91 lakh permanently shifted, together they are more than 23.7 lakh cases.The election machinery will thus have to manage two enrolment streams simultaneously—restoring eligible voters left out during SIR and enrolling first-time voters,’ an activist said.With claims closing on Sept 30, officials have to verify and dispose of cases by Oct 29, ahead of publication of the final electoral roll on Nov 4.The State CEO’s office has also indicated that the 2.07 crore uncollectable cases should not be treated as the final number of deletions, as claims and objections can alter the final roll.
