Violence mars NMC polls

NASHIK: Violence marred the otherwise overall peaceful polling process for the Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) elections held on Thursday, when 55 to 60 per cent of voters exercised their franchise. With ballots sealed, the candidates wait is likely to get over by noon on Friday, when all the results will be declared. The counting will begin at 9am and the first results are expected by 10:30am.
The alleged ransacking of the office and residence of an NCP candidate in the Panchavati area and an attack on a Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate marred the otherwise peaceful polling exercise conducted on Friday to elect 122 representatives for the NMC.
The polls were held against the backdrop of the transfers of two top bureaucrats of Nashik city - police commissioner Vinod Lokhande and municipal commissioner B D Sanap - following an outrage over the rising crime graph and allegations of mismanagement of civic affairs.
While district collector P Velrasu took additional charge of the civic body, Kulwant Kumar Sarangal replaced Lokhande in the police commissionerate, even as the election process had started.
The alleged attack on SP candidate Dilawar Khan Pathan by his opponents and the ransacking of the office and residence of NCP candidate Sanjay Tile, allegedly by activists of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, marred the poll process, which was, otherwise, peaceful.
Most of the polling stations in Nashik Road saw candidates flouting norms of being 100m away from the stations. This was more prevalent in Deolaligaon polling centres and those in Jail Road which prompted Police Commissioner Kulwant Kumar Sarangal to visit the area and instruct the authorities concerned to take cognizance of the situation and do the needful.
In ward number 35, the commissioner of police and his officials took the candidates by surprise by visiting the polling centre Pujya Sane Guruji Vidyalaya, suddenly at 12.30pm. All the 19 candidates were standing outside the gate when the police chief and his officials entered the premises. The 19 candidates included Pawan Pawar, who was externed before getting a reprieve from the high court. He was seeking a ticket from the Nationalist Congress Party but later filed the nomination papers as an independent.
The commissioner instructed the security personnel to ask the candidates to follow the norms. "When people come out of their homes for voting, such minor incidences and scuffles are likely to happen, otherwise the elections are peaceful. Even in Panchavati, it was not a major one. We are checking the polling stations to see if candidates are within 100m but there are not many such places," Sarangal told TOI.
In ward number 61, Congress candidate Rais Shaikh and MNS candidate Deepali Lad Lasure were seen right outside the gate of the polling centre, Vidya Niketan, and greeting voters. In the same ward at Anand Rushi School, Shiv Sena candidate Suryakant Lavate was seen right outside the gate.