Maha local polls: 47.51% turnout; Mahayuti workers clash at places

Mumbai: A voter turnout of 47.51 per cent was recorded till 3.30 pm on Tuesday in the first phase elections to 264 municipal councils and nagar panchayats in Maharashtra, with violence, stone pelting and altercation allegedly involving workers of the ruling parties being reported in parts of the state.

Voting, which began at 7.30 am, concluded at 5.30 pm, officials said. Till 3.30 pm, 47.51 per cent voting was recorded and the final percentage will be available late night, an official of the State Election Commission (SEC) said.

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 in Raigad district, while tension prevailed in Georai town of Beed district when BJP and NCP workers came to blows.

Election officials launched a probe after a video purportedly showed Shiv Sena MLA Santosh Bangar entering a polling booth while a woman was casting her vote in Hingoli district. Counting of votes will be taken up on December 21, as per the directive of the Bombay High Court’s Nagpur bench on Tuesday.