Rahul Gandhi’s bag checked by EC officials in poll-bound Maharashtra

Leader of opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi’s bag was searched by Election Commission officials at Amravati in poll-bound Maharashtra on Saturday, making him the latest top politician whose luggage was checked ahead of the November 20 voting in the state.

The poll authorities inspected Gandhi’s bag after his helicopter landed at the helipad in Dhamangaon Railway, one of the 8 assembly seats in the Amravati district. The Congress MP was here for an election rally, PTI reported.

However, the officials’ action elicited a strong reaction from the grand old party.

“Why don’t they check the bags of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde?” Congress’ Teosa MLA Yashomati Thakur, a former Maharashtra minister, said to reporters.

The Election Commission has mandated frisking of the bags of politicians to enforce the model code of conduct during elections.

Although a standard practice during the model code, the exercise invited the wrath of ex-Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, who heads the Shiv Sena (UBT), a Congress ally.

Thackeray’s belongings were checked twice – first in Yavatmal on Monday and in Latur the following day.

The Sena (UBT) accused the Election Commission of not conducting similar searches on leaders of the ruling Mahayuti alliance of the BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP.

However, videos later emerged of poll authorities inspecting the belongings of politicians from the parties in the Mahayuti coalition, including Chief Minister Shinde (Shiv Sena), Deputy CM’s Devendra Fadnavis (BJP) and Ajit Pawar (NCP), Union ministers Amit Shah and Nitin Gadkari (both BJP), among others.

The counting of votes for the 288 assembly seats in Maharashtra will be held on November 23.