Mumbai, Dec 2 (PTI) Polling for the first phase of 264 municipal councils and nagar panchayats across Maharashtra on Tuesday was marred by allegations of bogus voting and violence with even supporters of ruling allies BJP, NCP and Shiv Sena coming to blows at some places, officials said.
A voter turnout of 47.51 per cent was recorded till 3.30 pm with the State Election Commission (SEC) not providing the final figure till late night. An official said data is being compiled from across districts and the final voting figure will be released on Wednesday.
In a related development, the Bombay High Court directed the SEC not to hold the counting of votes for the first phase of local body polls on December 3, as scheduled earlier, on the ground the “disclosure of public mood” through the results might affect the subsequent phase of the elections.
The results of Tuesday’s elections should be published along with the results of the December 20 elections, the HC said. In a subsequent statement, the SEC said the counting of votes for elections to all the 288 municipal councils and nagar panchayats, including 264 which voted on Tuesday, across Maharashtra will he held on December 21.
Voting for the polls, where nearly one crore people were eligible to exercise their franchise, began at 7.30 am and concluded at 5.30 pm. Till 3.30 pm, 47.51 per cent voting was recorded, a state poll panel official said.
In the elections, a total of 6,042 seats and 264 posts of presidents of both categories of local governing bodies (municipal councils as well as nagar panchayats) were up for grabs. In many places, ruling alliance partners BJP, Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar’s NCP contested against each other.
Shiv Sena and NCP workers clashed in Roha and Mahad towns in Raigad district, while tension prevailed in Gevrai town of Beed district when BJP and NCP workers came to blows.
An offence was registered against 21 identified and 20-30 unidentified persons at the Gevrai police station for hurling stones and vandalizing an SUV during the election, an official said.
Two groups came face-to-face near a polling booth in Gevrai when the polling was on. The groups later clashed and vandalized the SUV at 11.45 am, the official said.
Clashes between political workers also took place at Muktai Nagar in Jalgaon district, Bhor in Pune, Mhaswad in Satara, Jat in Sangli, Hingoli, Buldhana, Dahanu in Thane and Shahada in Nandurbar district, a police official said.
In Mahad, supporters of Vikas Gogawale, son of Shiv Sena minister Bharat Gogawale, and NCP’s Sushant Jabre clashed in Nave Nagar, he said, adding a person also brandished a firearm.
An FIR was filed against Shiv Sena MLA Santosh Bangar after a video purportedly showed him entering a polling booth while a woman was casting her vote in Hingoli district.
The Opposition Congress complained of bogus voting in Buldhana.
Two suspected bogus voters were caught at a polling station in Buldhana barely an hour-and-a-half after voting began for the municipal council elections there, the Maharashtra Congress claimed.
A man allegedly attempted to cast a vote in the name of local resident Vaibhav Deshmukh at the Gandhi Primary School polling centre in ward no. 15 of Buldhana. The individual is said to be a resident of Kothali in Motala taluka, the Congress alleged in a statement.
Another person accompanying him was also detained, while Congress functionaries claimed that more individuals from Kothali and Ibrahimpur had been brought to Buldhana city with the intention of casting fraudulent votes.
The Opposition party alleged that Shiv Sena MLA Sanjay Gaikwad was bringing people from rural areas to cast “bogus” votes in the Buldhana Municipal Council elections. However, there was no response yet from the authorities on the allegation.
At least four EVMs malfunctioned in Nandurbar district, leading to long queues outside polling booths. Complaints of EVM malfunctioning were also reported at Amaravati, Badlapur, Nanded, Jalgaon, Yavatmal, Bhokardan and Akluj.
A voter smashed an EVM at Gadchandur in Chandrapur district, he said.
A worker of the Shiv Sena led by deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde was caught by some people while allegedly distributing money and handed over to police at Yeola in Nashik district.
In Nashik district, long queues of electors were seen at some polling centres even after the official conclusion of voting at 5.30 pm.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis questioned why counting of votes to 264 local bodies needed to be postponed for 24 local bodies which will vote on December 20.
Fadnavis said in a democracy elected representatives are expected to maintain decorum and protocol.
Maharashtra Minister and senior BJP leader Chandrashekhar Bawankule said “misinterpretation of laws” by the SEC has led to the HC deferring the counting of votes to December 21.
Amid reports of clashes between workers of the Shiv Sena and NCP in Raigad, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said violence has no place in democracy.
All parties, including the members of the ruling coalition, should maintain discipline, said the NCP chief, adding, “Alliance dharma must be honoured by all partners.” “Let the people decide who they want to elect,” Pawar stated, adding any attempt to disturb peace or influence voters through force was “against the Constitution and Maharashtra’s values.” The poll battle became multi-dimensional with the BJP-led Mahayuti and the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) locking horns, interspersed by “friendly fights” among the alliances. PTI MR AW CLS ND COR DC ARU GK KRK NP RSY
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