Maharashtra : Violence mars 1st phase of local body polls

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.

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.

As per reports, 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. 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.