4 minutes of readingPuneUpdated: February 8, 2026 06:57 pm IST
At least nine people have been booked in separate cases of fake voting during the Zilla Parishad (ZP) and Panchayat Samiti elections in Pune district, police said.
In one incident, citizens detained a group of six people, including a woman, on suspicion of fake voting at a polling station at Jogeshwari Vidyalaya in Kesnand between 1.30 pm and 4.30 pm on Friday.
Election officials checked the suspects at the spot and informed the police after allegedly recovering fake Aadhaar cards and voting cards from them. The suspects were taken into custody for investigation.
Police havaldar Balasaheb Haral filed a first information report (FIR) in the case at Wagholi police station. An offense was registered against the six accused under sections 337 (falsification of court records or public records) and 172 (standing in elections) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
The six accused have been identified as Mohammad Ehsan Shah (20), Arshad Roshan Ali (22) and Akhilesh Bijuprasad Kumar (20), all of them natives of Uttar Pradesh currently residing in a labor camp in Kesnand; and Dilip Chavan (36), Premdas Ramchandra Rathod (30) and Ashwini Premdas Rathod (27), all residents of Washim district in Maharashtra and currently working as daily wage laborers in Wagholi and Kesnand areas.
According to the FIR, Shah, Ali and Kumar allegedly cast fake votes using fake Aadhaar cards, while the other three were allegedly found in possession of fake voting cards at the polling centre.
Senior police inspector Nandakumar Gaikwad of Wagholi police station said, “Except the woman, we have arrested the five men on charges of false voting. All the six accused are workers. An investigation is underway to find out who gave the fake Aadhaar cards and voting cards to the accused and sent them to the polling center in Kesnand. Further investigation is underway.”
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Police suspect that some local people who could be linked with candidates contesting the ZP and Panchayat Samiti elections promised money to the accused for fake votes.
In another incident, three people, including two women, were detained for allegedly trying to conduct fake voting at a polling center in Prayagdham village in Haveli taluka around 10.30 am on Friday.
Navnath Kanchan (41), the election official at the scene, lodged an FIR at the Uruli Kanchan police station in Pune rural. The accused have been identified as Suvarna Manohar Panchal (48), Vanita Mohan Tathe (38) and Lakshman Prakash Badgae, all residents of Kalepadal in Hadapsar area of Pune city. Police said Badgae is originally from Bidar district in Karnataka.
All three have been registered under BNS Section 172 (character in elections). The sections related to forgery are yet to be invoked, police said.
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According to a press release issued on Sunday, Panchal allegedly tried to vote in the name of Sunita Rajaram, Tathe tried to vote as Roshni Kishor Juremlani and Badgae posed as Mahesh Haridas Kutwal using fake voting cards.
Police inspector Sachin Wangade said, “An FIR has been registered based on the complaint received from the election official. Notices have been issued to the accused for further investigation.”
Police are investigating how the three accused got the fake voting cards and who directed them to go to the polling center in Prayagdham.
Meanwhile, an offense was registered against a man for illegally using a mobile phone and taking photographs inside a polling station in Junnar taluka around 5 pm on Friday. The accused has been identified as Umesh Chavan (43), a resident of Wadaj in Junnar, police said.
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An FIR was lodged against Chavan at the Junnar police station under section 223 of the BNS (disobedience to an order lawfully promulgated by a public servant) and the provisions of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.