The Times of India: Nashik: Tuesday, February 28, 2012.
Transfer of as many as 500 electors from ward 29 to ward 27, witout any objections , has come to light through a Right To Information (RTI) application, filed with the Nashik Municipal Corporation, by Pankaj Rahane, NCP's unit president for Ward 29. Alleging that the transfer was the handiwork of officers, Rahane who is also a the resident of the ward has decided to file a writ petition in the High Court.
Officials responsible for handling the electoral list are reportedly trying to dodge the issue.
According to information sought via the RTI by Rhane, there are either no objections to the names included in the wards, or wherever there were objections, sufficient proof has not been provided justifying the transfer of names to the other ward.
Ward 29 includes areas near Gadge Maharaj Dharmashala, Shirish Kumar Chowk, Patel building and Kazi Gadhi among others. "The names of the residents in the area were in the primary list that the NMC displayed. We objected to the names that fell in our wards but actually belonged to either ward 28 or ward 27. All of a sudden when the final list was declared we were surprised to see the names of at least 800 voters shifted to the adjoining area of ward 29," Rahane said.
"We were shocked to see these names included in other wards. This was the core area of the ward and our corporator Vinayak (Nayya) Khaire had done a good job here. He knew each family by name," he added.
The RTI has revealed that there were no objections to the names being transferred, even with the reference to the legislative assembly electoral roll. Of those few whose names were objected to, the verification team failed to provide concrete proof to show that the voters were not residents of ward 29. "We objected to names from ward 27 which had been included here. We presented proof required and got the things corrected. This has not happened with the other names that were transferred out of Ward 29," Rahane said.
Khaire, alleged that authorities had deliberately committed the act. Officials responsible for changes in the electoral roll said ,"What we have done has been reflected in the papers given through the RTI application. The work of listing is handled by the election branch".The election branch said they had no idea about the names being added or deleted without any reference. "This ward-wise list is derived from the assembly list prepared by the collectorate. The responsibility of shifting of names was handled by divisional offices," they said.
Officials responsible for handling the electoral list are reportedly trying to dodge the issue.
According to information sought via the RTI by Rhane, there are either no objections to the names included in the wards, or wherever there were objections, sufficient proof has not been provided justifying the transfer of names to the other ward.
Ward 29 includes areas near Gadge Maharaj Dharmashala, Shirish Kumar Chowk, Patel building and Kazi Gadhi among others. "The names of the residents in the area were in the primary list that the NMC displayed. We objected to the names that fell in our wards but actually belonged to either ward 28 or ward 27. All of a sudden when the final list was declared we were surprised to see the names of at least 800 voters shifted to the adjoining area of ward 29," Rahane said.
"We were shocked to see these names included in other wards. This was the core area of the ward and our corporator Vinayak (Nayya) Khaire had done a good job here. He knew each family by name," he added.
The RTI has revealed that there were no objections to the names being transferred, even with the reference to the legislative assembly electoral roll. Of those few whose names were objected to, the verification team failed to provide concrete proof to show that the voters were not residents of ward 29. "We objected to names from ward 27 which had been included here. We presented proof required and got the things corrected. This has not happened with the other names that were transferred out of Ward 29," Rahane said.
Khaire, alleged that authorities had deliberately committed the act. Officials responsible for changes in the electoral roll said ,"What we have done has been reflected in the papers given through the RTI application. The work of listing is handled by the election branch".The election branch said they had no idea about the names being added or deleted without any reference. "This ward-wise list is derived from the assembly list prepared by the collectorate. The responsibility of shifting of names was handled by divisional offices," they said.
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