Maharashtra State Election Commissioner (SEC) Dinesh T. Waghmare The fee has come below intense scrutiny after a collection of points introduced it into the highlight throughout Thursday’s Maharashtra Municipal Company elections.
Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday demanded: Wagmare’s suspension Concerning suspicions of fraud in public opinion polls.
Waghmare, a 1994-batch IAS officer within the Maharashtra cadre, was sworn in because the seventh state election commissioner on January 28, 2025, instantly after retiring as extra chief secretary to the state authorities. His tenure coincided with one of many state’s largest municipal election workout routines, involving over 3.48 billion voters in 29 native governments.
Waghmare holds a bachelor’s diploma in electrical engineering from Visvesvaraya Nationwide Institute of Expertise, Nagpur, a grasp’s diploma in pc science from Kharagpur Institute of Expertise, and a grasp’s diploma in growth challenge planning from the College of Bradford, UK.
Throughout his lengthy administrative profession, he held a number of vital assignments within the Authorities of Maharashtra, together with Principal Secretary to the Ministry of Residence Affairs, Ministry of Vitality and Ministry of Social Justice, Chairman and Managing Director of the Maharashtra State Electrical energy Transmission Company, and Municipal Commissioner of Pimpri-Chinchwad and Navi Mumbai. He additionally served as Amravati Divisional Commissioner, Collector of Buldhana, Chief Govt Officer of a number of zilla parishads and Chairman of Nagpur Enchancment Belief.
earlier controversy
Earlier than taking cost of the SEC, Waghmere discovered himself on the middle of political controversy when he served as secretary of the Division of Social Justice. The difficulty arose in 2017 after his son acquired a government-funded abroad scholarship to review at Penn State College below a scheme for scheduled caste college students. Opposition events claimed a battle of curiosity. Waghmere defended himself by saying that revenue limits had been relaxed years in the past and that college students admitted to the world’s prime universities are exempt from revenue limits. Though no formal motion adopted, the episode attracted political consideration.
Citizen opinion ballot and criticism
This time, Waghmare has come below extreme criticism as SEC, with opposition events and voter teams questioning a number of selections taken after the election schedule was introduced. These embrace delays in importing affidavits of candidates, permitting door-to-door campaigning within the final 48 hours, introduction of PADU (print help show system) machines throughout vote-counting in Mumbai, staggered vote-counting, dealing with of complaints concerning unopposed victories, violation of mannequin code of conduct, and so on.
Controversy over voting day points and indelible ink added to the criticism. Responding to claims that the ink could possibly be wiped off, Mr Waghmare defended the method and warned of motion if it was misused.
Waghmare mentioned the identical ink that has been used thus far is being utilized and no new substances have been launched. He mentioned the state election board has been utilizing the ink in marker pen kind since 2011.
“As soon as utilized, the ink takes about 10-12 seconds to dry. Throughout this time, the voter continues to be contained in the polling station. As soon as it dries, it can’t be eliminated. This is similar ink utilized by the Election Fee of India. If double voting happens, motion will probably be taken in opposition to the polling station officers,” Waghmare mentioned. He additionally claimed that false tales had been being unfold that the ink had been wiped off. “Voters are additionally accountable for not scrubbing off the ink. If the ink is eliminated earlier than it dries, it’s the voter’s accountability. Legal proceedings can be filed in opposition to such voters,” Waghmere mentioned.
Waghmere mentioned movies circulating on social media will probably be investigated and motion will probably be taken in opposition to these spreading false data. He additionally blamed voters for the confusion over polling station places, saying they need to have checked their polling station particulars and names on-line prematurely.
