This is after the Opposition accused the election officials of bias after the rejection of a number of nomination papers before the Thane Municipal Corporation elections, which created a new political scandal in Maharashtra.
Late on Wednesday night, senior leaders of opposition parties in the city, including Rajan Vichare of Shiv Sena (UBT), Avinash Jadhav of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), and Jitendra Awhad of the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar faction), came to the media accusing the returning officer in the Wagle Estate area of Thane to act in a partisan fashion during the scrutiny process.
The Opposition claimed that nomination papers submitted by Shiv Sena (UBT), MNS, Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), and a few independents were rejected in wards 16, 17 and 18 on grounds that they termed as minor or dubious grounds. They claimed that there was no transparency and fairness in the scrutiny process and this questioned the integrity of the electoral exercise.
Leaders of the MNS and VBA also alleged that nomination papers of politicians and leaders of the ruling Shiv Sena party headed by Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde were taken despite glaring differences in his nomination papers. They particularly mentioned Ekta Bhoir and Shilpa Wagh because they were accused that the election officials ignored some irregularities in their nomination forms.
Wagle Estate district is generally considered a citadel of the ruling Shinde-led Shiv Sena which is considered to have been a factor that influenced the scrutiny process by the Opposition. The opposition leaders threatened that such would destroy the trust of the people in the democratic process and stated that they were going to take the issue to the next level that is the election authorities.
They also insisted on an independent investigation of the nominations being rejected and severe punishment of officials who would be found guilty of the bias. With the tension building up in the lead up to the civic polls, the scandal has created additional political tensions to a municipal election battle which is already high stakes at Thane.
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