Nagpur Civic Elections Marred by Technical Failures and Administrative Lapses
The Nagpur Municipal Corporation's confident promises of seamless polling operations completely unraveled on Thursday morning. Repeated electronic voting machine failures disrupted voting across multiple booths throughout the city. Long queues formed quickly as confusion spread among waiting voters. Their frustration mounted visibly, revealing glaring gaps in election preparedness that officials had previously assured were addressed.
Early Morning Breakdowns Set Troubling Tone
Polling at JRK Convent School in Prabhag 28 faced immediate disruption right at 7:30 AM. An EVM simply refused to start functioning, stranding early morning voters for more than an hour. Officials had declared polling officially open, but actual voting could only begin at 8:48 AM after they replaced the faulty machine. "Many early voters left due to the delay," confirmed BJP contestant Vijay Zalke, highlighting the immediate impact on voter participation.
A similar disruption occurred in Prabhag 30 where voters complained about an unresponsive ballot unit. Officials had to conduct another mid-poll replacement, raising serious questions about both election staff readiness and machinery reliability from the very beginning of voting day.
Prabhag 1 Emerges as Worst-Affected Area
Midway through the day, polling at the ITI premises booth on Jaripatka Road came to an abrupt halt. An EVM stopped functioning suddenly, forcing officials to scramble as queues continued growing. Another malfunction was reported from a booth in Prabhag 1 in North Nagpur, which became the day's worst-hit area.
Prabhag 1 witnessed the highest concentration of machine failures throughout Thursday. Both ballot units and control units developed repeated snags. "Till 4 PM, snags in 16 EVMs were reported from this prabhag," confirmed municipal commissioner and NMC chief election officer Abhijeet Chaudhari. Responding to concerns about control unit failures potentially compromising voting data, he clarified that information remained secure. "Control units have memory cards, and poll data can be retrieved easily," he assured.
The stakes were particularly high in this prabhag where a tense contest unfolded between Congress candidate Suresh Jagyasi and BJP's Virendra (Vikky) Kukreja. The repeated technical problems added considerable pressure to an already competitive race. Former minister and North Nagpur MLA Nitin Raut even rushed to one of the affected booths in response to the ongoing issues.
Procedural Errors Compound Technical Problems
Beyond machine breakdowns, procedural lapses further embarrassed election administrators. In Prabhag 17, voting had to pause completely after officials discovered ballot units arranged in the wrong order. This triggered immediate protests from voters and party agents, forcing officials to reorganize the units alphabetically before resuming operations.
A similar mix-up occurred in Prabhag 35 where units marked A through D were placed in reverse order—D, C, B, A. This alphabetical confusion added significantly to voter bewilderment at already tense polling stations.
Older Machines and Citywide Impact
A senior official speaking to media revealed that most malfunctioning machines belonged to batches manufactured in the early 2000s. He explained that all EVMs had cleared first-level checks along with two subsequent inspections before final commissioning. Despite these pre-election tests, problems emerged almost immediately once voting began.
According to NMC officials, election staff had to replace as many as 59 control units across Nagpur's 3,004 polling booths due to various technical snags. The civic body had not released any citywide tally of EVM-related complaints by the time reports were filed, leaving the full extent of disruptions unclear.
Additional Incidents of Disorder
Even as technical issues persisted across multiple zones, Prabhag 30 reported two separate incidents of ruckus and confusion. At Sant Kabir Upper Primary School, chaos erupted after voters complained that a button against a particular candidate's name was not functioning properly. Officials replaced the faulty EVM and voting eventually resumed.
At Sanjuba Convent, another polling center within the same prabhag, disorder broke out twice—once during early polling hours and again as voting was closing. Election officials had to intervene both times to restore order and calm tensions among voters and party workers.
Contrast With Official Claims and Broader Implications
The repeated snags and evident mismanagement stood in stark contrast to the NMC's previous claims of meticulous planning and extensive mock drills. Voters and political observers warned that such widespread disruptions not only erode public confidence in the electoral process but also risk depressing voter turnout significantly.
This risk proved particularly acute during crucial morning hours when many working citizens attempt to vote before their daily commitments. As polling continued amid persistent technical failures and procedural lapses, serious questions resurfaced about accountability and preparedness in Nagpur's most significant civic election after nearly three years of administrator-led governance.
