Pune: The SIR field exercise that concluded on Monday found that an average of 40% of voters were untraceable across nine of the 11 urban assembly constituencies in Pune. Kasba Peth and Bhosari are the two exceptions.Nearly 28 lakh voters of the 90.8 lakh electorate, (32%), enumeration forms in Pune district were in the uncollectable list. These include those in the absent-shifted-deceased-duplicate and other categories. The high number is a worry for political parties, which, through representatives appointed as booth-level agents, reached out to their voter base to increase registration on the last day. A reduction in their electors could dent their chances in future polls.Among Pune’s urban constituencies, Hadapsar leads with 3 lakh untraced electors, followed by Khadakwasla with 2.69 lakh, Chinchwad with 2.62 lakh, Wadgaon Sheri with 2.12 lakh, and Kothrud with 1.97 lakh.Hadapsar leads the tally with 46.4% of its voters absent from the roll, closely followed by Shivajinagar at 45.7% and Khadakwasla at 45%. Kothrud registered 44% missing voters, while Parvati stood at 42.1% and Wadgaon Sheri recorded 40.8%. Pimpri saw a 41% voter drop, Pune Cantonment recorded 40%, and Chinchwad registered 38.1% missing names. The lowest percentages of missing voters were observed in Kasba Peth at 28.4% and Bhosari at 25.3%.“Many people who voted in the last polls could not be registered. Since they back our party, they approached us to add their names. But we guided them and shared the BLOs numbers. If they are not registered, our vote-share will go down in the future elections,” an elected member from Kothrud on the request of anonymity said.According to political functionaries, their networks can help the authorities find untraceable voters. They said BLAs helped the BLOs but it was not effective.“Instead, had the Election Commission of India allowed political workers to help the organisations conducting SIR it would have helped. They could have been engaged after due diligence and scrutiny so that no allegations of rigging the process could come up. Their police verification to check backgrounds would have established credibility,” one of them said.BJP’s Pune unit chief Dheeraj Ghate said their political workers have a personal touch with the voters in their strongholds. “If they were involved directly, it would have helped them trust the system and process. This could have encouraged more people to submit their forms,” he added.Leader of the opposition in PMC Nilesh Nikam said, “We can help in SIR if allowed to participate directly in the process. Our political workers can reach out to voters and cross-verify if they have submitted their forms.”Shatrughna Kate, BJP’s Pimpri-Chinchwad unit chief, said it was tough for the BLOs to reach all the voters in their jurisdiction due to several reasons, including their apathy. If political workers had been taken into confidence, they could have helped in reaching out to people they know.”Narendra Bansode, Pimpri Chinchwad Congress unit chief faulted the house-to-house visits for the high number of untraced voters. “The authorities have failed to convey the importance of the drive. It has adversely impacted the overall turnout. The drive was left to the mercy of BLOs and their camps. Leaders and workers across party lines should be made part of the drive for outreach.”Election officials said direct participation of political parties was avoided to ensure there are no biases. “The SIR is the process of the election department. It is by nature apolitical. If parties are allowed to participate directly, it would lead to suspicion about the whole process, which is supposed to neutral and unbiased,” a senior official involved in the SIR said.Hearing Process May Be LengthyBLOs said untraceable voters could increase the workload during the hearing process, especially voters whose names, addresses or documents require verification. It may even be a long process.Booth-level officers across Pune district, including the rural belts, witnessed a last-minute scramble on Sunday and Monday as they stepped up efforts to register untraceable voters and those with pending verification.Several booths did not witness unusually large crowds. BLOs said they did their best to contact those whose details were affected by wrong addresses, migration, duplicate entries and other discrepancies.“It has been a cumbersome process for us throughout the last two weeks. It was impossible to complete the target and reach out to each voter in our area. On Sunday and Monday, we made last-ditch efforts to reach untraceable electors or those who had not responded to our efforts. But the responses were lukewarm,” a BLO from Pune Rural area said.
