About 45 per cent of the citizens from Pune,Mumbai and Thane,could not vote in the recent Lok Sabha elections,due to the large scale mismanagement of electoral rolls,says a survey conducted by Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini,Mumbai,between May 7 and May 12. Out of the 1,724 citizens from Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad whom we contacted,570 persons (52.62 per cent) said that they could not vote because their name was missing from the list, said Dr Vinay Sahasrabuddhe,director general,Rambhau Mhalgi Praboshini in a press meet on Thursday. A total of 5,060 citizens from Pune,Pimpri-Chinchwad,Thane and Mumbai who did not vote in the Lok Sabha polls were included in the survey. A total of 4,866 persons were contacted in person,while 19 were asked via SMS,132 by telephone and 43 though a web portal, stated the press release. Sahasrabuddhe said that around 100 volunteers,who conducted the survey,identified those areas where there was less voting. Other than that,we also found out names of the people who did not vote from the voters list and contacted them,said Ravindra Sathe who was also present for the press meet. Respondents were asked to choose any one of the 18 reasons that were given to them for not voting. The options included could not reach the voting centre in time,did not know where the poll booth was,was of the opinion that there is no use voting,was out of station,was elderly/ handicapped and needed assistance to reach poll booth among others. About 24.37 per cent Pune citizens cited that household work kept them away from voting. An almost equal number of respondents said that they were out of station on the voting day. Of the total persons who were surveyed,40.9 per cent were women and 59.1 men. Most of them were professionals,students and housewives and 20.9 percent were first time voters.
