2 minutes of readingPuneJanuary 16, 2026 12:18 am IST
Rupali Chakankar, chairperson of the Maharashtra state women’s commission, said she has lodged a complaint with the Election Commission against the alleged fake voting attempt at a polling center in ward number 34 of Pune city.
Chakankar is also a leader of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), led by Ajit Pawar. Chakankar told the media that his party workers caught some people erasing ink from their fingers with an unknown liquid after voting at the Narayanrao Sanas School polling booth in Wadgaon Dhayari area on Thursday morning.
Showing a video of the incident, Chankankar said a man holding a liquid was erasing the ink marks on the fingers of women at the polling station.
Chakankar stated that both the man and the woman seen in the video are not voters in the area and it is suspected that they would vote again after erasing the ink.
“After receiving information about the incident from the party workers, I reached the spot. I called the police and election officials to investigate the matter. If the women are real voters, then what was the reason for bringing ink erasing fluid? This seems suspicious. A complaint has been lodged with the election commission to conduct an investigation and stop such things,” Chakankar said.
Meanwhile, the voting process for the civic elections in Pune was held peacefully on Thursday. Ranjan Kumar Sharma, joint commissioner of Pune city police, said the voting was carried out peacefully and no major untoward incidents were reported.
Sharma said there were some complaints about cash distributions, into which investigations are underway and flying squads formed under the election commission are probing.
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Thus, the voting took place peacefully in Pimpri Chinchwad. Additional commissioner of police (crime) Sarang Awad of Pimpri Chinchwad police said law and order was adequately maintained during the elections.