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Maharashtra civic poll results to be declared today, key posts in Baramati at stake
Voting in 23 Maharashtra municipal councils and nagar panchayats, along with those for 143 vacant member posts, was held on Saturday.
Counting of votes for elections to municipal councils and nagar panchayats across Maharashtra will begin at 10 am on Sunday, a day after polling concluded amid reports of violence, bogus voting and alleged cash distribution.
Voting for the posts of presidents and members in 23 municipal councils and nagar panchayats, along with 143 vacant member posts, ended at 5.30 pm on Saturday.
Prominent civic bodies that went to the polls include Baramati in Pune district and Ambernath in Thane district.
Violence and alleged malpractices
Several incidents of election-related violence and alleged malpractices were reported across the state on Saturday. In Ambernath, police resorted to a lathi-charge after two groups clashed. Police detained 208 women who had arrived from nearby Bhiwandi.
Opposition parties alleged that the women had been brought in for impersonation, a charge denied by the women, who claimed they had come to attend a public meeting.
In a separate incident, a person was found carrying ₹35,000, following which a first information report was registered.
Clashes were also reported between workers of the Shiv Sena and the Congress in other areas.
Large-scale election-related offences were reported from Dharambad in Nanded district, where women were allegedly sequestered in a hall and prevented from voting in exchange for money to abstain from casting their ballots. Both the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party alleged that the Shiv Sena had orchestrated the incident.
Nanded district collector Rahul Kardile said the administration had acted on inputs about cash distribution. “We had information that money was being distributed in a hall, but the people left before the team reached there. We filed an FIR on the hall management for violating prohibitory orders,” he said.
Stage set for BMC polls
Sunday’s counting also sets the stage for the next major political test in the state. The SEC has announced that elections to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and 28 other municipal corporations will be held on January 15, with counting scheduled for January 16. As many as 2,869 seats will be up for grabs across these civic bodies, with 3.48 crore voters eligible to vote.
The upcoming municipal corporation polls, especially the BMC election, are expected to be high-stakes, coming amid allegations of “vote chori” and intense rivalry between BJP and Shiv Sena.
