Pune: Maharashtra will have 1,00,216 polling stations in the draft electoral roll to be published on August 31, a net reduction of 37 booths from the existing 1,00,253, following a statewide rationalisation exercise that raised the maximum voter capacity per polling station from 1,200 to 1,300 and merged low-strength booths.Pune district, however, will buck the trend, recording a net increase of seven polling stations across its 21 assembly constituencies. According to district-wise rationalisation data, 38 new polling stations have been proposed in constituencies where the number of electors per booth exceeded the prescribed limit. The district currently has 8,417 polling stations.The reorganisation comes ahead of the publication of the draft electoral roll under Special Intensive Revision (SIR), during which enumeration forms of 2.07 crore voters across Maharashtra could not be collected. Election officials said many of these electors have been categorised as absent, shifted, deceased, duplicate and others (ASDDO) and may not feature in the draft roll.Within Pune district, Bhosari will see the highest increase, gaining eight polling stations to take its total from 483 to 491. Indapur will add six booths, followed by Daund with five and Khed with four. Ambegaon and Bhor are set to gain three stations each, while Shirur and Baramati will get two additional booths apiece.On the other hand, Shivajinagar will witness the sharpest reduction, with 14 polling stations proposed to be merged, lowering its count from 280 to 266. Khadakwasla will lose three stations, while Pune Cantonment will see its total reduced from 274 to 270. Chinchwad and Pimpri will each lose one polling station.Several constituencies will remain unchanged, including Junnar (356 polling stations), Purandar (413), Maval (402), Kothrud (387), Parvati (344) and Hadapsar (525). “The rationalisation exercise aims to ensure polling stations with excessive voter loads are brought within prescribed norms, while booths with very low elector numbers are merged wherever feasible,” an election official said.Meanwhile, the final ASDDO list prepared under the SIR exercise has identified 23.74 lakh voters in Pune district as either absent or shifted, accounting for 82.8% of the district’s 28.68 lakh uncollectable voters. The list includes 17.83 lakh voters marked absent and 5.91 lakh marked shifted.Officials clarified that inclusion in the ASDDO list did not automatically result in deletion from the electoral roll. “The list comprises electors who appeared in earlier rolls but do not figure in the SIR draft roll. Voters whose names are missing from the draft roll can submit claims and objections and, if eligible, apply for inclusion through Form 6. The final electoral roll is scheduled for publication on November 4,” an official said.Apart from absent and shifted voters, Pune’s list of uncollectable electors includes 3.12 lakh deceased voters, 1.44 lakh duplicate entries and 38,104 electors who did not submit enumeration forms during the revision exercise.
