POWER OF PEOPLE FORUM. Pl tag and share with as many. Support and join this campaign to get back our fundamental right of voting by seeking to get a fresh date for those whose names were deleted and they are in 10s of thosands! Dear Puneites April 17th was the darkest day in the life of Puneites, as thousands were denied the fundamental right of our Constitution to exercise their votes. Over a lakh names have been deleted with malicious intentions and I allege, with the support of ruling parties and officials at the Pune Collector office. People who have voted for 20-30 years; those who had even checked their names in the last month or fortnight; those whose names belong to particular communities and have surnames like Jains, Patels or certain castes of Maharashtrians; those who have registered in the last couple of months at the call given by the Election Office, have been selectively deleted. Also, one or two members of many families have been randomly deleted. Meaning the names of the father and mother are there, but the names of daughters and sons have gone missing. Or vice versa. I allege, this is a huge conspiracy by the present government in connivance with the Divisional Commissioner and the district collector who have bowed to indulge in this dangerous game of striking off names and thus denying thousands of Puneites, the fundamental right of exercising vote. I allege that it has been done in a planned manner in order to desperately boost the chances of the pompous son of a pompous senior Congress leader who wants to win the Pune seat, hook or crook. No political leader or government officer has any right to play with our fundamental rights of exercising our right to vote. Hundreds of voters thronged the Council Hall to meet the Collector but he was evasive throughout the day. Angry voters were hovering around polling booths, not knowing what to do. I visited the Council Hall at 6.45 pm for a Press Conference scheduled by the Collector but saw at least 100 voters on the second floor arguing with the Collector, who the police was protecting and wanting to keep him away from people. I ran up and demanded that he is answerable to the mass deletions and that he should announce a new date to facilitate those voters whose names have been deleted, to exercise their franchise before the last phase of elections. Also, I demanded that a criminal complaint should be lodged against all officials/staff of the Pune collectorate who are involved in illegal deletion of names. A short while later Mr Anil Shirole, the BJP candidate arrived and he took an aggressive and pro-people stance. He said that we should immediately draft a petition and submit it to the collector, stating that by 11 am on April 18th, the Collector should give his decision regarding the fresh date for voting for those whose names were deleted and for those whose names were not included although they had registered recently, on the call given by the Election office. The letter also stated that criminal action should be taken against officers indulging in mass deletion of names. We submitted the petition around 9.30 p m as the police kept us waiting for 1hr,40mins and did not allow us to go up to the collector’s office. The Collector finally came down and accepted our petition. He stated that he would forward this petition to the Chief Election Officer on April 18th and revert. Since we do not believe in his assurances, Anil Shirole volunteered to go on indefinite hunger strike. I too have volunteered to go on hunger strike. I appeal to citizens of Pune and those who could not vote on April 17th to come out in large numbers and support this campaign. I also appeal to all to give a complaint letter of not being able to vote as the Collector will forward all of them today. Let us also consider lodging criminal complaints at your respective police stations. I announce today, that this campaign will be fought under the informal forum `Power of People Forum.’ Let us together revive the democracy that has been brutally stabbed. Seek your support. Yours Sincerely Vinita Deshmukh, Convener, `Power of People Forum’ 98230 36663. vinitapune@gmail
Posted on: Fri, 18 Apr 2014 00:23:01 +0000
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