Woman posing as election observer at Satara district bank polls detained in Man taluka

A startling case has come to light in Man taluka during the election to the board of directors of the Satara District Central Co-operative Bank. Police have detained a woman who went around various polling stations claiming to be an election observer.

According to the information available, at around 10.45 am on November 1, a white Innova Crysta car arrived near polling station number eight at the Mahatma Gandhi Vidyalaya and Junior College in Dahiwadi. The woman who got out of the car wore an identity card bearing the name of the Election Commission of India around her neck. Calling herself an election observer, she showed the card and went inside the polling station.

The woman has been named as Vaishali Ashok Deshpande, and she is said to be a resident of Pashan-Sus Road in Pune. She reportedly did not stop at just one station. She also made rounds of other stations, presenting herself as an observer. She also had photographs taken with several officials, so no one initially suspected her identity.

Rajashree Terni, Sub-Divisional Police Officer of the Koregaon sub-division, and Police Inspector Jalindar Pale, both deployed on election duty, grew suspicious about the woman's post. When they checked her identity card, it read "Electoral Registration Officer, 209 Shivajinagar Assembly, Pune".

She had not been appointed as an observer for the Satara district bank election at all. According to police, the woman said during questioning that in 2023, when she was working as a booth-level officer in the Shivajinagar area of Pune, she had got this identity card made.

The woman was accompanied by an Innova Crysta car with the registration number MH 12 VA 9997. She said she had hired the car. Police have also gathered information about the car's driver, Maruti Chhagan Ektapure, and Tukaram Shivling Patole, who was with him.

A special squad of the district Superintendent of Police detained the woman. A case has been registered at Dahiwadi police station on the complaint of Police Havaldar Ajay Ramchandra Zhunjar. Assistant Police Inspector Bhausaheb Gosavi is conducting further investigation.

The incident has raised questions about the security of polling centres and the checking of identity cards.