LoP in Lok Sabha and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's bags being checked by Election Commission officials after his helicopter landed at Dhamangaon, in Amravati district, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024.
Credit: PTI Photo
Amravati: Poll authorities on Saturday checked the bag of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi at Dhamangaon Railway in Maharashtra's Amravati district.
He was here to address a public rally for the November 20 assembly polls.
Gandhi's bag was checked after his helicopter landed at the helipad in Dhamangaon Railway, which is among the eight assembly seats in Amravati district.
Former state minister and Congress' Teosa MLA Yashomati Thakur, speaking to reporters, questioned the action of the poll authorities and asked why they were not checking bags of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah or Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
The checking of bags of leaders, a practice of the poll authorities to enforce the model code of conduct, came to the fore in the state's election campaign after Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray was subjected to it in Yavatmal.
Thackeray not only shot a video of the procedure but also chided the poll authorities on not checking bags of Modi, Shah, Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis.
However, videos that surfaced subsequently showed bags of Shah, Shinde, Fadnavis, Ajit Pawar etc being checked by poll authorities.
Assembly Elections 2024 | The Maharashtra Assembly polls will take place against the backdrop of a fractured political landscape in the western state where the Shiv Sena and NCP will be going up against the Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar factions, even as the BJP and Congress try to make their mark. Meanwhile, in Jharkhand, the JMM faces a new challenge after Hemant Soren's recent arrest and Champai, a longstanding party member, joining the BJP. The Haryana election resulted in a shock loss for Congress, which was looking to galvanize on the Lok Sabha poll performance, while J&K also saw the grand old party eventually stepping away from the cabinet, with Omar Abdullah's JKNC forming government. It remains to be seen if the upcoming polls help BJP cement its position further or provide a fillip to I.N.D.I.A. Check live updates and track the latest coverage, live news, in-depth opinions, and analyses only on Deccan Herald.
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