Do not expect courtesy from Sainiks: Thackeray

Incensed over a poll officer's insistence that Raj Thackeray show his identity proof at a booth, Bal Thackeray said Shiv Sainiks would go ahead and slap "such officers".

Electoral officers in Maharashtra now run the threat of being slapped if they demand identity proofs from Shiv Sainiks.

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Incensed over a poll officer's insistence that Raj Thackeray present his identity proof at a polling booth, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray threatened on Wednesday that his party members "won't show courtesy to such officers".

The senior Thackeray's nephew was apparently asked by the officer to show his identity proof "even though he carried a slip bearing his number in electoral rolls", and "even though he asked the officer if he did not know him", the upset Sena supremo told an gathering of the "Bharatiya Kamgar Sena" in suburban Bandra.

Thackeray also ridiculed the reported missing names of voters from electoral rolls in and around Mumbai. "He thatta chalali ahe" (this is a mockery going on), Thackeray said in Marathi.

Personally, however, the Sena chief said he was 'happy' to exercise his right to vote after a disqualification for eight years.