After weeks of rigorous campaigning, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation went to polls at 7:30 am on Thursday, Jan. 15. However, the political contest has been in the first gear owing to several roadblocks. Voters have alleged an indelible, easily removal ink is being used at the polling booths.
The ink has raised concerns around foul play in voting and whether this snag will allow one person to cast multiple votes.
"This is absolutely ridiculous, the way that the elections are being conducted has put a question mark about the elections now," a Shive Sena (UBT) party worker stated while talking to NDTV Profit.
He added that queries regarding double and triple voting were raised with the Election Commission earlier but nothing came of them. The party worker also demonstrated how the mark of ink on his forefinger had become extremely faint after one swipe only.
Earlier in the day, the voting process was disrupted by technical glitches. Many voters complained of difficulties in downloading voter slips and locating their names at polling booths despite being registered voters.
Quite a few alleged that the Maharashtra State Election Commission's website showed “data not available,” leaving them stranded at help desks set up outside polling stations, reported Lokmat Times. People, on social media, also criticised the authorities for the system failure on voting day.
Despite charged electoral campaigns leading up to voting day, Mumbai is witnessing a stunted voter turnout. As of 1:30 p.m., approximately 29.22% polling had been recorded for the elections to 29 municipal corporations across Maharashtra, as per NDTV reports.
