Voting for the municipal corporation elections in the city on Thursday proceeded largely as scheduled, with thousands of employees deployed to ensure a smooth process. Despite the extensive planning, the Northern and Eastern zones recorded the most interruptions and breakdowns in voting activity, markedly higher than other parts of the city. The primary causes were repeated failures of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMS) and confusion over booth allocations, both of which resulted in delays, agitation, and disappointed voters that ultimately may have shaved off some percentage of the final vote count.

 

North Nagpur registered an unusually high number of EVM failures. At Booth No. 44 in Prabhag 9, located at Guru Nanak School in Bezonbagh, an Independent candidate detected that one of the machines had frozen with the vote tally stuck at a single count, although dozens of electors had already cast their vote. After alerting polling officials, he and representatives of other contenders demanded an immediate replacement. The switch took nearly 2 hours. The long pause discouraged many who chose to return home rather than wait, thereby foregoing their franchise. The technical issue in the EVM was quite unique, though one could hear the long beep, indicating that vote is cast, the actual vote count however remained frozen, said an independent candidate.

 

So it remains unclear if the votes that were cast when the machine malfunctioned till its replacement were recorded or not. The issue would be clear only during the time of counting, if there is difference between total votes registered as cast and one recorded in the machine. Another major disruption was reported from Shakuntala Public School in Vishram Nagar near Powergrid Square. Tense exchanges broke out between police personnel during the afternoon as malfunctioning EVMs had to be replaced. Machines arrived only after a delay of roughly 30 minutes, followed by another 45 minutes of verification and activation in the presence of candidate agents. The halt in voting ran past two hours, prompting significant queues and pushing many frustrated electors to leave before casting their ballot. Technical failures were not confined to isolated centres.

 

At North Point School in Nari, officials had to replace machines twice at the same booth. Repeated stoppages compounded voter irritation and slowed turnout in the area during peak hours. Beyond equipment failure, organisational and navigational issues added further strain. Numerous electors struggled to locate their allotted polling booths, while some discovered that the booths listed on their slips did not match the final assignment. Several residents were allotted centres far from their homes. New voters faced an additional hurdle when their names did not appear on the electoral rolls despite prior registration. The situation was aggravated by inexperienced chit-distributors stationed near multiple booths who lacked familiarity with the updated system, sending voters to incorrect locations or failing to guide them accurately. While voting continued across the city, discrepancies in the northern and eastern sectors exposed operational weaknesses that hindered access to the ballot and curtailed participation.