No voter can complain of missing names, ample time given, says Pune Collector

PUNE: No voter can complain of missing names as ample time was given, told Pune collector Naval Kishore Ram ahead of the polls for Pune and Baramati parliamentary polls on April 23. He said that for the last six months the drive was on to include new voters in the list and so there is no point in complaining on the day of polling.

Political campaigning for Pune and Baramati constituency for the Lok Sabha elections ended on Sunday at 6 pm. 49 candidates will be in the fray for the two parliamentary constituencies with nearly 41.87 lakh voters for both these constituencies. While Pune parliamentary constituency has 2074861 voters there are 2112408 voters for Baramati parliamentary constituency.

Addressing a press conference, Naval Kishore Ram, Pune district collector, said, after the end of campaigns no kind of campaign will be allowed whether it is multi messaging or on social media and strict vigil will be maintained by his team. He added that appropriate action will be taken against the respective candidate or party if anyone is found violating these rules and regulations. "We are committed to ensure that the entire polling process takes place in a transparent and peaceful manner.” As a district collector, I appeal to the citizens of Pune and Baramati to come out in large numbers and vote, Ram said. With last Lok Sabha elections registering only 54 % polling he said that he wants the polling percentage to improve to 70%.

Speaking about the preparedness of officials for the polling schedule, the collector said that a total of 460 zonal officers (Pune-180, Baramati-280) have been given appropriate training with regards to the conduct of the election process. There are 91 critical polling stations in Pune PC and 62 under Baramati PC. Also, in the city, we have webcasting facility at 226 locations, in Baramati there are 285 locations with webcasting facility, he added.

The polling in the district will be conducted in two phases Pune, Baramati on April 23 and Maval and Shirur parliamentary constituencies on April 29.