As the Mumbai polls took place on May 20th, the Shiva Sena supremo has called out the BJP for using underhand tactics, speaking to reporters on May 20th, he stated that, “Modi is scared and is resorting to underhand tactics.” He further appealed to voters to not abstain from voting and said that the party will tomorrow reveal names of booth level presiding officers of SEC who are not allowing people to vote. “Please cast your votes. The polling booths will not be struck down until every voter has voted, be it 6 pm, 9 pm, 3 am or even tomorrow morning.”
He has also called out the behaviour of the election commission as ‘unconstitutional’, and asked why the presiding officers have ‘deliberately’ delayed voters.
Meanwhile, Mumbai reportedly saw great queues at polling booths and other technical issues were faced by its voters. The Indian Express reported that EVMs malfunctioned at several polling booths in three locations, including Thane, Powai, and Mulund.
Reuters has reported that people have waited at queues for more than three hours in the city, with one woman almost fainting. Mumbai has incidentally recorded low voting in the state at 37% till 3 pm in the city. People were reportedly not allowed to take their mobile phones in the booths, which led them to return and leave it with relatives, which in turn causes more delays, with some voters even returning without having cast their votes.
In recent news, the Shiva Sena accused the BJP of allegedly bribing people to vote for them in Mumbai’s Mulund. The party workers allegedly caught the bribery taking place and soon reported it to the election officials.
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