A record 65 per cent polling was recorded in elections to 27 Zilla Parishads (ZPs) and 305 Panchayat Samitis on Tuesday. As per the voting figures till 3.30 pm, available with the State Election Commission (SEC), the maximum voting percentages were recorded in Raigad, Sangli, Solapur, Kolhapur, Aurangabad, Jalna, Parbhani, Hingoli, Osmanabad, Chandrapur and Gadchiroli.
Speaking to newspersons, SEC’s Additional Chief Secretary Chand Goyal disclosed that following complaints of malfunctioning of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in Sangli, Parbhani and Kolhapur, the same were replaced. In Kaij taluka of Beed district, the polling officers had cross-connected the ballot unit of ZP polls with the control unit of Panchayat Samiti polls, which was later rectified.
The decision of the SEC to seal the state borders with neighbouring states had led to seizures of large amounts of cash and liquor in Gadchiroli, Beed and Nagpur. When asked about NCP MP Dr. Padmansinha Patil displaying his wrist watch to people at a polling booth in Osmanabad, Goyal added that the SEC has taken cognizance of the incident.
Replying to queries over the Beed incident in which NCP cadres brutally assaulted a BJP candidate, SEC Election Commissioner Neela Satyanarayan disclosed that IG, Aurangabad range, since Tuesday, been camping in Beed district. State BJP Spokesperson Madhav Bhandari alleged that on Tuesday night some NCP goons rammed their Scorpio jeep in the BJP party office in Rohatwadi village in Patoda taluka of Beed district mercilessly, beating up party cadres.
Numbers that matter
The maximum voting percentages recorded till 3.30 pm by the SEC in some ZPs and PSs are as follows: Thane (39.07), Raigad (59.20), Sindhudurg (50.00), Sangli (53.31), Solapur (52.50), Kolhapur (58.80), Aurangabad (50.75), Jalna (53.86), Parbhani (56.96), Hingoli (51.68), Beed (47.70), Osmanabad (50.11), Chandrapur (52.23) and Gadchiroli (53.40).