Pune, Maharashtra (November 18, 2024): Election Commission officials inspected the bags of the Nationalist Congress-Party Sharadchandra Pawar faction (NCP-SCP) MP Supriya Sule at a helipad in Manjari, Hadapsar, Pune, on Monday. A video shared by ANI shows election officials checking both her bag and car as part of routine checks ahead of the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections.
This follows a similar incident in Baramati on Sunday, where Sule's father and NCP leader Sharad Pawar’s bag was checked by the Election Commission. Recently, videos of Maharashtra leaders such as Devendra Fadnavis, Nitin Gadkari, Sharad Pawar, and Eknath Shinde undergoing similar checks have surfaced.
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The issue gained attention after Uddhav Thackeray expressed frustration over the repeated checks of his bags and asked whether the ECI officials checked the bags of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Devendra Fadnavis and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Ajit Pawar.
Earlier, Supriya Sule condemned the checks, calling it "dirty politics." She claimed Thackeray’s bags were checked twice, while leaders in power were not subject to similar scrutiny. "How is it possible that only opposition leaders' bags are checked?" Sule said on Tuesday. "No checking of the leaders in power is done. Such dirty politics is being done in Maharashtra."
Sources in the Election Commission clarified that enforcement agencies are strictly following standard operating procedures (SOPs) to ensure a level playing field, ANI reported. Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said these checks, including those on helicopters, are part of efforts to prevent misuse of power and ensure fairness and transparency during the election process.
Voting for the Maharashtra Assembly elections is scheduled for November 20 and results to be announced on November 23.