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Amid a controversy over the luggage of opposition leaders being examined, the bags of Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, the party's Maharashtra President Nana Patole and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) chief Uddhav Thackeray were checked by Election Commission (EC) officials in the poll-bound state on Thursday.
This is the first time during the campaign for the Maharashtra elections that Mr Kharge and Mr Patole's bags were checked by polling officials. A video shared by news agency ANI shows Mr Kharge's staff opening his bags for polling officials to take a look inside them in Nashik.
#WATCH | #MaharashtraElection2024 | Bags of Congress National President Mallikarjun Kharge were checked by the Election Commission as his helicopter landed in Nashik pic.twitter.com/NlsgmanIyO
— ANI (@ANI) November 14, 2024
Mr Patole's luggage was also checked in a similar manner at the Tiroda helipad in Gondia district, when he was on his way to campaign for a Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) candidate in the Goregaon assembly constituency.
#WATCH | Maharashtra Congress President Nana Patole's helicopter and bags were checked by an election official today. The helicopter was checked at Tiroda helipad while Patole was going to campaign for an NCP-SCP candidate in Goregaon Assembly constituency
(Source: Congress) pic.twitter.com/pt7oSSJ0vt
— ANI (@ANI) November 14, 2024
The bags of Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray bags were checked twice in one day - in Shrigonda and Newasa in Ahmednagar district - according to videos released by his team.
The former chief minister has put out at least two other videos this week of his luggage being checked as he travelled across the state to campaign for the elections to the 288-member assembly on November 20.
The earlier incidents of checking had sparked a huge row between his faction of the Shiv Sena and the rival group led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
There were no immediate comments from either the three opposition leaders or the EC on the latest checks, but polling officials had earlier said it was a "routine procedure" ahead of the elections.
Earlier this week, Mr Thackeray was seen grilling a polling official who was waiting to search the former's bags as he deboarded his chopper. In a gruff tone, the Shiv Sena (UBT) boss sought to know the officer's name (Mahesh Shani) and see his ID card.
The former chief minister also claimed that the EC does not search bags of leaders from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) or the Mahayuti alliance.
Sena leader Sanjay Raut had sought to know if the luggage of Shinde and his deputies, Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah were checked in a similar manner.
To counter the Opposition's claims, the Maharashtra BJP on Wednesday posted a video on X showing the checking of Mr Fadnavis' bags, and said merely holding the Constitution for "show" is not enough and one must also follow the constitutional system - a dig at the Congress over a controversy involving Rahul Gandhi. Mr Shinde's luggage was also checked on Wednesday at Palghar Police ground helipad as part of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).
In an exclusive interview with News Agency on Wednesday, Mr Shinde said it was a routine procedure for EC officials to carry out such checks. "So why the fuss and why the fear? We don't create videos and post. They are doing their job, we are doing ours," he said.