Maharashtra polls: Six voting booths vandalised in Beed amid election tensions

Mumbai: Six polling stations across three villages in Parli, Beed district, were vandalised by unidentified individuals in an area where agriculture minister and Nationalist Congress Party leader Dhanajay Munde is contesting.

Beed collector Avinash Pathak said, “Some people vandalised six polling stations in three villages in Parli. We have replaced the EVMs at five of the six polling booths. In Ghatnandur village four EVMs were damaged, three of them have been changed and the voting has resumed. In Chhotewadi and Murabbi we have changed the EVMs and the process has resumed. The votes cast before the incident are safe. We have filed a criminal case against the unknown people.”

Pathak clarified that while there were incidents of clashes between groups and cases of manhandling, these occurred outside the polling stations. “These are attempts of vandalising the booths and it cannot be called booth capturing. Superintendent of police has personally camped in Parli and overseeing the security arrangement. We have deployed adequate police force,” he said.

The Nationalist Congress Party (SP) shared videos on social media showing alleged booth capturing and unknown individuals directing voters to select specific candidates. The party questioned whether this represented democracy or dictatorship. Additional videos showed booths being vandalised by unidentified people.

Social media platforms also circulated footage of CCTV networks being disconnected in several Parli polling stations.

In Parli city, Congress general secretary Shivaji Deshmukh reported that NCP-SP leader Madhavrao Jadhav was assaulted by workers from the Ajit Pawar-led NCP. “Jadhav was in meeting with the workers of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi in the Bank Colony area when he was attacked,” he said.

The Election Commission had received similar complaints during Lok Sabha elections, prompting the Bombay High Court to mandate CCTV camera installation in 122 polling booths.