Pune: Former Air Force Chief Casts Votes, But Wife’s Name is Left Off List
Pune: Former Air Force Chief Casts Votes, But Wife's Name is Left Off List
As soon as voting opened on Monday morning, ACM Naik, 75, headed to polling booth 26 at Sapling School Baner Road in Pune with his wife and 43-year-old son Vineet.
13 May 2024
On Monday, Air Chief Marshal Pradeep Vasant Naik, the former head of the Air Force, expressed surprise that his wife Madhubala’s name had been removed from the voter list. As soon as voting opened on Monday morning, ACM Naik, 75, headed to polling booth 26 at Sapling School Baner Road in Pune with his wife and 43-year-old son Vineet.
He remarked how he and his son were able to cast their vote, but his 72 year-old wife’s name was absent from the voters’ list and when he informed the officials, they said it was out of their hands. He added that he was disheartened that a number of such removals had taken place in the voter’s list and urged that the reason for it should be investigated
Even after the carrying required slips that were provided by the local corporator, the efforts were in vain since his wife’s name was not present in the list.
After the sitting MP of Pune, Girish Bapat, passed away, the BJP has appointed former mayor of the city, Murlidhar Mohol, to contest elections while Ravindra Dhangekar is the Congress candidate. He had previously defeated the BJP in the Kasba assembly bypoll which took place last year.
The Congress has traditionally held the majority of the parliamentary seat in Pune. Pradip Rawat of the BJP defeated Congressman Mohan Joshi in 1999. Subsequently, in 2004, Suresh Kalmadi of the Congress took back the seat from the BJP and held it till the 2009 elections.
But following 2014, the BJP strengthened its hold on the seat with consecutive victories by margins above 3 lakh votes.
