7.94% turnout till 9.30 am in Maharashtra local polls; two 'bogus' voters caught, claims Congress

Mumbai: An estimated 7.94 per cent of voters exercised their franchise in the first two hours of polling on Tuesday for elections to 264 municipal councils and nagar panchayats in Maharashtra, officials said.

Two suspected bogus voters were caught at a polling station in Buldhana barely an hour-and-a-half after voting began for the municipal council elections there, the Maharashtra Congress claimed.

It also alleged that Shiv Sena MLA Sanjay Gaikwad was bringing people to cast "bogus" votes in the Buldhana Municipal Council elections.

There was no immediate response from the authorities on the allegation.

The polling began at 7.30 am and will conclude at 5.30 pm, election officials said.

Till 9.30 am, 7.94 per cent of the electors cast their votes, they said.

A man allegedly attempted to cast a vote in the name of local resident Vaibhav Deshmukh at the Gandhi Primary School polling centre in ward no. 15 of Buldhana. The individual is said to be a resident of Kothali in Motala taluka, the Congress alleged in a statement.

Another person accompanying him was also detained, while Congress functionaries claimed that more individuals from Kothali and Ibrahimpur had been brought to Buldhana city with the intention of casting fraudulent votes.

The Opposition party alleged that Shiv Sena MLA Sanjay Gaikwad was bringing people from rural areas to cast "bogus" votes in the Buldhana Municipal Council elections.

Some suspected bogus voters were apprehended by Congress members and handed over to the police. However, the MLA's son, Kunal Gaikwad, arrived at the spot and verbally abused the police personnel before allegedly helping one of the detained individuals escape, it charged.

The Congress demanded Kunal Gaikwad's arrest and that a case be registered against him for his alleged involvement in facilitating bogus voting and obstructing government work.

The party urged the police administration to take cognisance of the matter and initiate appropriate action.

State Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal criticised the administration for not taking any action. "We have lodged a complaint but nothing is being done," he told reporters.

There was no immediate response from the police or the Gaikwad family on the allegations.

Voting was underway on Tuesday across 264 municipal councils and nagar panchayats in the first phase of the local body elections in Maharashtra, where 6,042 seats and 264 posts of council presidents are up for grabs.

Nearly one crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in the first round of the multi-tier rural and urban local bodies elections, which, as per the Supreme Court’s directives, are to be concluded by January 31, 2026.

The poll battle has become multi-dimensional with the BJP-led Mahayuti and the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) locking horns, interspersed by "friendly fights" among the alliances and subtle bids for one-upmanship between the BJP and Shiv Sena. The local body polls are being viewed as a major indicator of political sentiment in Maharashtra, a year after the BJP-led Mahayuti won 235 out of the 288 seats in the state assembly elections.

These polls have already witnessed significant political manoeuvring, with the ruling Mahayuti alliance of BJP, Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, and Ajit Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party facing off against the Opposition MVA of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT), Sharad Pawar's NCP (SP) and Congress.

The EC has introduced a verification system marking suspected duplicate voters with double stars on lists, requiring strict identity checks at polling stations. It also launched a mobile application providing information about candidates and voters, including affidavits of candidates.

Votes will be counted on Wednesday.