Pune: A candidate for Pune Division Teachers’ Constituency election scheduled for Oct 23, Prof Sachin Sanap on Wednesday raised questions over the voter registration process, claiming several eligible teachers and college faculty members may have been left off the electoral rolls due to systemic confusion surrounding the online registration procedure.Addressing a news conference, Sanap said he had submitted representations to the Election Commission of India, Maharashtra chief electoral officer and Pune divisional commissioner on Sept 28 seeking clarity on the registration process and an opportunity for eligible teachers and professors to enrol. He said a professor had also approached the court over the issue.The Election Commission announced the biennial election schedule for three graduates’ and two teachers’ constituencies in Maharashtra on Sept 22. For Pune division teachers’ constituency, which covers Pune, Satara, Sangli, Kolhapur and Solapur, polling will be held from 8am to 4pm on Oct 23. Nominations began on Sept 29 and can be filed till Oct 6, followed by scrutiny on Oct 7 and withdrawal till Oct 9. Counting will be held on Oct 27.The CEO Maharashtra portal shows that online registration for 2026 teachers’ and graduates’ constituencies closed on Sept 27. The portal provides Form 19 for teachers’ constituency registration and verification using a Sevaarth ID, which is optional.Sanap, however, claimed that discrepancies between instructions displayed online and the actual registration process caused confusion among prospective voters. “What is the fault of teachers who relied on the information provided on the official website? Professors who do not have a Shalarth ID faced difficulties while registering online. This has created a situation where eligible voters could be deprived of their right to vote,” he said.He also claimed that teachers in schools generally have Shalarth IDs, while some faculty members in senior colleges, universities and higher education institutions do not, making online verification difficult for them. Such teachers, he said, were consequently dependent on the offline process.Sanap further questioned the voter numbers in the teachers’ constituency, claiming that Pune district had 32,201 teacher voters in the 2020 election, but the January 2026 final roll showed only 12,187. He claimed that similar concerns existed in Satara, Sangli, Kolhapur, and Solapur.Official records show that a final electoral roll for Pune division teachers’ constituency was published on Jan 12, 2026, based on Nov 1, 2025 as the qualifying date. The Pune district election branch also lists the 2026 final teachers’ electoral roll on its website.“I am firm on contesting the teachers’ constituency election. But before the election, every eligible teacher and professor should get a fair opportunity to be included in the electoral roll,” Sanap said.
