Beed, Maharashtra:

A polling booth was vandalised and a worker of the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) was assaulted on Wednesday in Parli assembly constituency, from where minister Dhananjay Munde of the Ajit Pawar-led NCP is seeking re-election, an official said.

Madhav Jadhav, a local leader of the Sharad Pawar-led party was assaulted in Bank Colony area of Parli town and the video of the assault went viral on social media, after which a polling booth at Ghatnandur in the constituency was vandalised, an official said.

Madhav Jadhav hails from Ghatnandur.

Some people entered the polling booth at Ghatnandur, threw the EVM on the ground and damaged the furniture in the booth, the official said.

Beed Collector Avinash Pathak said that after some persons tried to damage EVMs at Ghatnandur, the administration replaced the EVMs and voting resumed.

The data of votes cast through the earlier EVMs is safe in their control units and will be included during counting, he said.

“We are taking strict action against those who tried to damage the EVMs,” he said.

The NCP (SP) candidate from Parli assembly constituency, Rajesaheb Deshmukh claimed that a CCTV camera was disabled at a polling booth in Dharmapuri in the constituency.

In a viral video, a visibly annoyed Rajesaheb Deshmukh can be seen talking to the polling staff about the “detached” cable of a CCTV camera and demanding to know who had done it.

Rajesaheb Deshmukh later told reporters that the CCTV had been made dysfunctional.

“People from minority communities are not being allowed to come to the booth to vote. Someone else is pressing the button (on EVM). If this is the case, why do we even need an election? It seems the administration is merely completing a formality,” he claimed.

Polling in all 288 assembly seats in Maharashtra began at 7 am and ended at 6 pm.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The Election Commission on Tuesday said it had agreed to a request by NCP (Sharad Pawar) for a prominent display of its poll symbol — man-blowing ‘turha’ — on ballot units of EVMs, but turned down the demand to freeze the trumpet symbol.

Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said the NCP-SP had conveyed to the poll authority that its election symbol — ‘man blowing turha’ — was not displayed prominently on the ballot units of EVMs.

“We had asked them to specify how would they want their poll symbol to be displayed on the ballot unit. The NCP-SP had given us three options on the poll symbol and we accepted the first suggestion made by them,” Kumar said.

However, the CEC made it clear that the Commission did not wish to disturb the existing system of allocation of election symbols while turning down the demand for the removal of the trumpet symbol from the list of symbols.

The CEC asserted that the trumpet symbol was different from the ‘man blowing turha’.

The Sharad Pawar-led party had argued that the trumpet symbol was similar to ‘man blowing turha’ which confused voters during the Lok Sabha elections.

The NCP-SP had contended that the independent candidate who was allotted the trumpet symbol in the Satara constituency polled more votes than the margin of victory of the BJP candidate Udayanraje Bhonsale.

Bhonsale had defeated NCP-SP candidate Shashikant Shinde by a margin of 32,771 votes. Independent candidate Sanjay Gade, who contested the election on trumpet symbol, had polled 37,062 votes. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (Maharashtra):

With the NCP faction led by Sharad Pawar being allotted ‘man blowing tutari‘ as its election symbol, the players of this traditional instrument fear that they may lose their business this year as the general elections and the marriage season are coinciding.

They are apprehensive that since the model code of conduction is in force, they may not be hired to play ‘tutaris‘ at weddings or other events this year.

‘Tutari’, a crescent or C-shaped instrument, is played on certain occasions as a sign of welcome. Earlier, it used to be played to announce the arrival of kings.

Talking to PTI, Jaisingh Holiye, who is in the business of providing ‘tutari’ players for functions here, said it is a traditional instrument and is played during marriage ceremonies and other events.

“But this year, the Lok Sabha elections and the marriage season are coinciding. We fear that we may lose business,” he said.

Baburao Gurav, a ‘tutari’ player residing in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar city, said, “Political parties have different election symbols made of objects or articles used in our daily lives. We can’t avoid those things. But we are not sure where a ‘tutari’ should be played at marriages and other family events due to its connection with a prominent political party.”

“So we may lose business at political events. Tutari players are generally called at election rallies by all political parties. But since our musical instrument has now become a symbol of one political party, we fear that we may lose orders from political parties. As the model code of conduct is in place, people may also think of not calling us for cultural and family events,” he said.

There is no clarity about the places where it should be played, Gurav added.

“If both the parties in marriage ceremonies are ready, we will play. If anyone raises objections we will stop playing the instrument,” he said.

The NCP split in July 2022 after a group of party leaders led by Baramati MLA Ajit Pawar, nephew of party founder Sharad Pawar, joined the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government. The Election Commission later recognised the Ajit Pawar faction as the real NCP and allotted it the clock symbol. The Sharad Pawar-led camp was given the poll symbol of ‘man playing tutari‘ and NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) as its name.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)