BJP General Secretary Vinod Tawde accused of distributing cash day before Maharashtra polls

Bharatiya Janata Party leader Vinod Tawde was on Tuesday confronted by Bahujan Vikas Agadi supporters in a hotel in Palghar’s Virar and accused of distributing cash to influence voters, reported The Indian Express. The police intervened and escorted Tawde away.

Polling for the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly will take place in a single phase on Wednesday. The counting of votes will take place on Saturday, alongside that of the Jharkhand elections. Campaigning for the polls ended on Monday.

“Rs 9.93 lakh have been recovered from the hotel rooms [of Tawde],” the newspaper quoted an unnamed Election Commission official as saying.

The Election Commission has filed an FIR against Tawde, reported India Today.

The Bahujan Vikas Agadi claimed that a bag in Tawde’s possession contained a diary mentioning the distribution of Rs 15 crore cash. Party leader and MLA Hitendra Thakur alleged that Tawde arrived at the hotel in Virar with Rs 5 crore cash.

This came on the same day that Bahujan Vikas Aghadi leader Suresh Padvi declared his support to Vinod Mendha, the BJP’s Assembly candidate from Palghar’s Dahanu seat, reported The Indian Express. Padvi was on Tuesday inducted into the Hindutva party in the presence of its Palghar chief Bharat Rajput.

Tensions broke out when Nalasopara MLA Kshitij Thakur, Hitendra Thakur’s son, allegedly snatched a diary containing details of the cash distribution...

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