Mumbai: The bag-checking saga continued in Maharashtra after Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray’s bags were checked by the Election Commission officials, as bags of Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde were also inspected by the poll authorities. In addition to this, several political leaders including Devendra Fadnavis, Ajit Pawar, Ramdas Athawale and state Congress president Nana Patole also posted videos of EC officials checking their bags.
CM Shinde's bags were checked by Election Commission officials in Palghar on Wednesday, after his helicopter landed at the Palghar Police ground helipad. “I have only clothes in my bag, no urine pot,” said Mr. Shinde in an apparent taunt to Mr. Thackeray.
The state BJP unit posted a footage on its social media handle X, showing Mr. Fadnavis' bags being checked by security personnel at Kolhapur airport on November 5. The ruling party in the post along with the video said, “Let it be, some leaders just have a habit of creating drama.”
The BJP said the deputy CM’s bag was checked in Yavatmal district on November 7, but he neither recorded any video nor made a fuss about it. Earlier, on November 5 Fadnavis’ bags were also checked at the Kolhapur airport, it said referring to the video.
“Simply holding the Constitution for show is not enough; one must also follow constitutional systems. We only request that everyone respects the Constitution,” the BJP said in the post.
Mr. Fadnavis said that Thackeray was trying to divert the attention by needlessly protesting against the checking of his bags by poll officials and was “seeking votes by whining.”
“What is wrong with checking bags? We had our bags checked during campaigning and there was no need for this level of frustration,” the deputy CM said, adding that election officials followed the same procedures with his campaign team too.
Earlier this week, Shiv Sena (UBT) shared videos online over the last two days of Thackeray’s bags being checked by poll authorities. In the last two days, Thackeray claimed his bags after he arrived in Latur and Yavatmal districts to campaign for the Vidhan Sabha elections. Thackeray had also asked if the same law would be applied to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior leaders of the ruling alliance during their campaign.
In his social media post, Ajit Pawar wrote, “Let us all respect the law and support efforts to uphold the integrity of our democracy.”