Voting in many centres being delayed at behest of govt, alleges Uddhav Thackeray

The Shiv Sena UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray on Monday alleged that voting for Lok Sabha elections 2024 in many centres was allegedly being delayed at behest of government reported the PTIUddhav Thackeray while addressing a press conference in Mumbai on Monday said election officials delaying voting process in many centres at behest of govt according to the PTIUddhav Thackeray asks voters to stay put at polling stations till morning if needed and leave only after exercising franchise as per the PTIUddhav Thackeray alleged on Monday afternoon that voting was delayed at several places in Mumbai and the Election Commission of India was doing this deliberately at the behest of the Narendra Modi government the PTI reportedDelay was taking place at the polling booths in areas where his party expects more votes he said at a press conference here while urging electors to stand in queues as long as early morning if the process was slowAs per poll officials a voter turnout of 4866 per cent was recorded till 5 pm in 13 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra where the fifth and final phase of general elections was taking placeIn Mumbai polling is taking place across all six Lok Sabha constituenciesDirty games are being played through the Election Commission There is a lot of enthusiasm among voters but the Election Commission is acting in a partisan manner There is a delay by ECs representatives in certain areas Uddhav Thackeray alleged according to the PTIOfficials were crosschecking names several times and women and senior citizens were facing problems at polling booths the former Maharashtra chief minister saidThere was no drinking water at many places he claimedThe Modi government is using the EC as its handmaiden due to its fear of losing This is a ploy of the Modi government to ensure that voting against it is minimized Uddhav Thackeray allegedThere was no incident of crowding outside polling centresin Mumbai city district due to slow voting process said Mumbai city collector Sanjay YadavIn the morning voters in large numbers assembled outside booths in Sewri Sion Koliwada and one more place but additional manpower was used to clear the rush and the polling process was conducted swiftly the senior bureaucrat saidWe were monitoring the situation at polling stations with the help of more than 2500 web cameras and arrangements were being made accordingly he saidEverything was normal and peaceful during the voting as we have been preparing for the polls for the last two months said Yadav adding the turnout in Mumbai city is also good this timeVoters who are at polling centres before or at 6 pm will be allowed to cast their ballot he saidMumbai Suburban District Collector Rajendra Kshirsagar said though there were long queues of electors at some booths everyone who arrived before closing of polling time will be allowed to cast their votewith PTI inputs