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Nashik, (Maharashtra), May 16 (IANS) Three days after the opposition parties alleged huge amounts of cash being transferred to and fro during the ongoing elections, security and Election Commission of India (ECI) officials checked Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's luggage at a helipad in Panchvati, on Thursday.
As soon as his helicopter landed, Shinde's bags were checked and opened on the tarmac itself in full public and media glare.
However, the team found only some sets of clothes, medicines and other personal belongings of the CM. The video of officials checking the luggage has now gone viral on social media.
Not finding anything objectionable in bags, the local police and the ECI officials handed over both bags to the CM's aides who proceeded to attend election rallies in the region.
The development – considered unprecedented by many – comes three days after the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi allies Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and Nationalist Congress Party (SP) alleged that large amounts of cash were allegedly being transferred for use in the elections.
On May 13, SS (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut tweeted a video of two bags being taken out of a helicopter and claimed that they contained at least Rs 12-13 crore.
Similar allegations of wads of currency notes being found on a road in Ahmednagar were also levelled by NCP (SP) MLA Rohit R. Pawar while Congress MLA and Lok Sabha candidate Ravindra Dhangekar complained that cash was distributed in a slum in Pune.
However, the ruling MahaYuti allies rubbished the allegations terming them nothing but acts of frustration, saying that the opposition parties were staring at defeat in the ongoing elections.
In separate vigilance operations, police and ECI teams have seized cash of varying amounts from different parts of the state in the past couple of months as the final phase of polling for 13 Lok Sabha seats is due on May 20.
--IANS
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