14 October,2009 08:30 AM IST | | Debarati Palit
Gajanan Joshi, who voted at Narayan Path, disliked all the candidates in his constituency u2013 Kasba Peth. He had decided to make his opinion known through a protest vote. But that was not to be the case.
Said Joshi, "I did not want to vote for any of the candidates. So, I asked the polling officer if there was any alternative. I had heard that those who did not wish to vote just needed to fill a form. The booth officer did not have this form and instead asked me to register my protest vote by writing a declaration next to my name on the list. This would be seen by everyone who saw the list. Voting is a personal thing. I was left with no option, but to vote for some candidate."
Under section 49-O an elector who decides not to vote is required to fill in the Form 17A, available with the presiding officer. But not only did most of the presiding officers in Pune not have the forms, most were not even aware of this rule.
Said Abhijit Nargolkar, a hotel management professional, "I had read in one of the papers that a voter
could choose not to vote. I wanted to do the same thing, but no one at the booth was aware of this. So, I was forced to vote."u00a0
Baner resident Sharan too faced this. Agitated over this, he said, "I had to vote randomly because of their ignorance."
