Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde’s bags were checked after his helicopter landed at the Palghar Police ground helipad. Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde’s bags were checked by officials of the Election Commission of India in Palghar on Wednesday. Shinde’s bags were checked after his helicopter landed at the Palghar Police ground helipad.
A controversy had erupted after Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray’s bags were checked by Election Commission officials. Thackeray claimed his bags had been inspected by the election authorities after he had arrived in Latur and Yavatmal districts in the last two days to campaign for the November 20 state assembly elections.
The Sena (UBT) leader had asked if the same law would be applied to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior leaders of the ruling alliance during their campaign.
“I am not angry with [the ECI officials] as they were doing their duty. But at the same time, I have a question: do they check the bags of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, home minister Amit Shah, that bearded person (referring to Eknath Shinde), the man with the pink jacket (referring to Ajit Pawar) and that deputy CM Fadnavis?” Thackeray had said at a public meeting in Wani.
Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, however, said Uddhav Thackeray was trying to divert the attention by needlessly protesting against the checking of his bags by poll officials and was “seeking votes by whining”.
“What is wrong with checking bags? We had our bags checked during campaigning, and there was no need for this level of frustration,” the deputy CM said, adding that election officials followed the same procedures with his campaign team too.
Earlier, bags of deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis Ajit Pawar were also checked by EC officials in Baramati on Wednesday. The Maharashtra BJP on had also posted a video on X showing checking of Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’ bags being checked by security personnel at Kolhapur airport.
