Maharashtra polls: For 2nd day, Uddhav says his bags checked by authorities, this time in Latur
Latur, Nov 12: For the second consecutive day, Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray claimed that his bags were inspected by the election authorities on Tuesday after he arrived in Latur district of Maharashtra to campaign for the November 20 assembly polls.
The former chief minister's party posted a video on a social media platform of his bags being checked by the poll authorities.
On Monday, after his helicopter landed at Wani in Yavatmal district, his bag was checked by the authorities. A video of it was also posted.
Similarly on Tuesday, the same exercise was carried out by the election officials after his chopper arrived at a helipad in Ausa of Latur ahead of his rally scheduled to be held in Kasar Shirshi village. Former MLA Dinakar Mane is contesting as the Sena (UBT) candidate from Ausa constituency.
The Shiv Sena (UBT) posted a video on its X handle, in which Thackeray is heard talking to the election staffers standing at the helipad, seeking to know their names and postings and also asking them to show their appointment letters.
During his interaction, the Sena (UBT) chief is heard asking them, "How many people have you searched so far?" On their response that he is the first one, he said, "Why am I always the first customer?"
Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Maharashtra during the day, he said, "Modi is coming today and I will send you to Solapur airport, which is shut (in view of the visit). Narendra Modi should also be subjected to this kind of checking."
Thackeray later said, "I am not angry with you, but the same law should be applied to Narendra Modi when he is coming for election campaign."
He asked the officials, "Are you all Maharashtrians?" When they answered in the affirmative, he said, "We should live and die for Maharashtra and not do the jobs of other states."
The election authorities later confirmed that nothing objectionable was found in Thackeray's bags.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Wayanad LS bypoll: Priyanka crosses lead achieved by Rahul in 2024 Lok Sabha polls
Wayanad (Kerala) (PTI): Top Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was on Saturday comfortably cruising towards her maiden electoral win from Wayanad in Kerala, as she surpassed the lead achieved by her brother Rahul Gandhi in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls earlier this year with party leaders and ally IUML predicting a big win for her amid the counting trends.
The Congress-led UDF's candidate from this hill constituency, Priyanka, extended her lead by over 3.8 lakh votes after five hours of counting of the ballots in the Wayanad Lok Sabha bypoll, according to the Election Commission.
Reacting to the lead achieved by Priyanka, Congress' ally Indian Union Muslim League and Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy said she would get more votes than her brother Rahul Gandhi in the Lok Sabha polls in April this year and will win by a record margin.
"An amazing first trend on counting day is the massive early lead for our leader @priyankagandhi ji in Wayanad, Kerala, by-election. People of Wayanad are surely going to record in victory margins today and Priyanka ji will make Parliamentary debut with a grand win," Reddy said in a post on 'X'.
IUML supremo Panakkad Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal said that going by the trends, Priyanka will get more votes than what Rahul got and the majority she achieves would also be higher than that of her brother.
A similar view was expressed by IUML's national general secretary P K Kunhalikutty.
On the other hand, BJP leader Anil K Antony, earlier in the day, had claimed that though Priyanka has achieved a good lead, her victory margin would be less than what Rahul got in the 2024 and 2019 LS polls in the hill constituency.
According to the latest EC figures, Priyanka had a lead of 3,82,975 with 5,78,526 votes. LDF's Sathyan Mokeri was behind her with 1,95,551 votes and NDA's Navya Haridas was in the third spot with 1,04,947 votes.
Rahul had got 6,47,445 votes and won by a margin of 3,64,422 votes against his nearest rival, CPI's Annie Raja, in the LS polls this year. In 2019, he had got 7,06,367 votes and had won by a margin of 4,31,770 votes.
After winning from Rae Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh as well, in this year's polls, Rahul vacated the Wayanad seat, and the party nominated his sister Priyanka, paving the way for her electoral debut.
The bypoll turnout in Wayanad, which has over 14 lakh registered voters, was around 65 per cent, a decline from the close to 74 per cent in the LS polls held in April this year and much lower than the over 80 per cent turnout in the hill constituency in the 2019 general elections.
The counting of votes commenced at 8 am with postal ballots being taken up first.
The strong rooms, where the EVMs were kept, were opened more than an hour before counting began.
The bypoll for the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat was held on November 13.
Of the 16 candidates who contested, the main contenders are Priyanka, ruling CPI(M)-led LDF's Sathyan Mokeri, a political veteran, and BJP-headed NDA's Navya Haridas.
