Mumbai, Dec 3 Maharashtra State Election Commission (SEC) on Wednesday evening announced that 67.63 per cent polling was recorded in the first phase of nagar parishads and nagar panchayat elections held on Tuesday.
The polling was marred by incidents of clashes, especially among the Mahayuti partners and bogus voting claims.
Though the SEC had originally announced elections in 246 nagar parishads and 42 municipal panchayats, voting was postponed in some places and was held only in 222 nagar parishads and 42 nagar panchayats on Tuesday.
154 wards in the other 76 nagar parishads and nagar panchayats also witnessed the postponement of the election. The voting in these areas will now be held on December 20 and counting on December 21.
"Since these were the local body polls, the data of voting percentage from several local bodies in a district was first compiled at the district collector level and was later sent to us. Therefore, it took a longer time to announce the official percentage," an official from the SEC said.
Murgud Nagar Parishad in Kolhapur district witnessed the highest polling percentage with 88.43 per cent. Besa pipla in Nagpur district saw the lowest voter turnout with 51.33 per cent.
Already mired in controversy over the poaching of leaders across allies and the Opposition, the first phase of local body elections in Maharashtra on Tuesday was marred by instances of violence over bogus voters as political parties targeted each other across constituencies.
In Hingoli, Shiv Sena MLA Santosh Bangar became the centre of controversy after a video emerged showing him inside a polling booth at Kalamnuri’s bazaar area.
The footage allegedly shows Bangar guiding a woman voter while she pressed the EVM button, raising slogans in support of late Bal Thackeray and Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, and using his mobile phone. All these actions are prohibited inside polling booths under the election law, an official said.
The District Election Officer confirmed that an FIR was registered against Bangar.
The incident drew sharp criticism from Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who said elected representatives should set an example by respecting the rules. A member of Bangar’s family is contesting the polls in Hingoli.
Tensions also surfaced in Mahad from Raigad district, where supporters of the ruling NCP leader Sushant Jabre and Shiv Sena Minister Bharat Gogawale’s son, Vikas Gogawale, clashed outside a polling station. Both sides accused each other of initiating the fight, with allegations including revolver brandishing by Vikas.
In Jalgaon’s Muktainagar, Union Minister Raksha Khadse confronted polling officials after a BJP candidate was stopped near a booth. She insisted that rules should be applied equally to all candidates and suggested that officials unable to manage the situation step aside.
Furthermore, political rivals Eknath Khadse and Shiv Sena MLA Chandrakant Patil had a face-to-face confrontation at another booth, with each side accusing the other of obstructing voters and intimidating citizens.
The Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray (UBT) on Wednesday claimed the nagar parishad and nagar panchayat elections in Maharashtra are mired in controversy and administrative turmoil, following a ruling delivered by the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court postponing all vote counting until December 21. The order mandates that the results of the votes cast on December 2 be withheld for 19 days and announced alongside the polls that were already postponed to December 20.
Thackeray camp alleged that the entire election process has become a "complete farce" (khelkhondoba) and a symbol of "slack governance and anarchy", with both the ruling Mahayuti alliance and the State Election Commission (SEC) facing intense accusations of corruption and procedural irregularity.
Thackeray camp in a scathing editorial in party mouthpiece Saamana alleged that the entire process is characterised by "chaos, confusion, and suspicion", with irregularities reported from voter lists to the actual voting process.
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