Few minor incidents on counting day, process was largely smooth: Police

The vote counting process at 29 municipal corporations across Maharashtra occurred mostly peacefully except for a few incidents and minor clashes between party workers at some polling booths on Friday. Senior IPS said, “Overall counting process has been peaceful. There were minor incidents noticed in Chatrapati Sambhaji Nagar, Jalgaon, Thane City, Kolhapur and Amravati City in the afternoon. All those were handled by the police with timely intervention”.

However, there were no major clashes anywhere in the state. In some incidents, legal action is being taken by the police, said an official from the DG office. He added that there was a clash between certain party workers and the police at Matmojani centre. The candidate Satish Gaikwad of Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi and his supporters objected after the candidate of ward number 24 was declared winner. The police used force to control the public, said a police officer. Legal action is being taken against the people involved, added the official.

The antes were upped in ward number 3 in the Manpada area of Thane after a confrontation took place between supporters of ex-mayor Meenakshi Shinde, an official Shiv Sena nominee, and independent candidate Bhushan Bhoir who is a Shiv Sena rebel. Shinde alleged that Bhoir allegedly tried to create problems while Bhoir’s camp alleged that Shinde’s group had thrown chilli powder in their candidate’s eyes, said the police officer.

There were disputes in Thane between two groups and the situation escalated with buses which were allegedly carrying ballot boxes. Police were present there and managed the situation peacefully. A senior police officer said that the ballot boxes reached the strongroom safely and people should not trust any rumours. The police force has been deployed in Thane and specially in Manpada area, added the official. The counting in Mumbai was peaceful and  there were no any incidents, said senior IPS officer.