The voting process was completely disrupted at various polling stations as election is underway for 29 municipal corporations in Maharashtra. Two major places such as Dhule and Amravati witnessed complete chaos as EVMs started malfunctioning soon after the voting process started.
Dhule
In Dhule, the EVM machines started malfunctioning in several wards and the voting process was completely disrupted. Voting was halted for approximately 30 minutes in wards 4, 5, 10, 11, 15, 16, and 19 after the machines suddenly stopped working, causing significant inconvenience to voters.
Soon after receiving the information about the EVMS glitches, the election administration immediately dispatched a technical team to the affected areas. Efforts are underway on a war footing to repair the faulty machines and resume the voting process smoothly.
Amravati
Similar incident was witnessed in Amravati also where a technical malfunction in the EVM machine was reported at Girls High School polling station 23 in Amravati city. Voters stood outside the polling station for 25 minutes due to the machine being non-functional. Polling began at 7:30 AM, and voters were still standing outside the polling station as the machine at this location was still not working.
After 25 minutes, the machine was switched on and the election process resumed. However, due to this delay, candidates have demanded an extension of the polling time by twenty-five minutes.
Voting in 29 municipal corporations across Maharashtra underway
Voting in 29 municipal corporations across Maharashtra began on Thursday morning with spotlight on Mumbai, where the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance is locked in an intense battle with the reunited Thackeray cousins for control of India's largest and richest civic body.
Polling for 2,869 seats spread across 893 wards in these municipal corporations began amid tight security at 7.30 am and will conclude at 5.30 pm. A total of 3.48 crore voters are eligible to decide the fate of 15,931 candidates.
In the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), whose annual budget is over Rs 74, 400 crore, 1,700 candidates are vying for 227 seats in elections being held after nine years, after a four-year delay. More than 25,000 police personnel have been deployed across Mumbai to oversee elections.
Except for Mumbai, the other urban bodies have multi-member wards. Vote count will take place on January 16.
Voting is underway in the following municipal corporations: Mumbai, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Navi Mumbai, Vasai-Virar, Kalyan-Dombivli, Kolhapur, Nagpur, Solapur, Amravati, Akola, Nashik, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Pune, Ulhasnagar, Thane, Chandrapur, Parbhani, Mira-Bhayandar, Nanded-Waghala, Panvel, Bhiwandi-Nizampur, Latur, Malegaon, Sangli-Miraj-Kupwad, Jalgaon, Ahilyanagar, Dhule, Jalna and Ichalkaranji.
With inputs from Ubaid Kadri, Maya Dolas
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