EC officials search Baramati candidate dad's car showroom

PUNE: Flying squads of the election commission on Monday night carried out searches at " Sharayu Motors " in Baramati , the automobile showroom of NCP (SCP) candidate Yugendra Pawar 's father.

According to the election commission officials, they received complaints of money being distributed from the showroom, following which the searches were conducted. Baramati sub-divisional officer Vaibhav Navadkar told TOI, "The flying squad carried out searches at the showroom on Monday night after the control room of the election commission received a complaint regarding violation of the code of conduct, but no suspicious activity was found."

The election commission officials claimed that the searches were a part of routine checks before the polling in the state,but the NCP (SCP) has questioned the timing of the action.

Yugendra, pitted against uncle Ajit Pawar of NCP in Baramati seat, told TOI, "We do not want to blame anybody and want to believe it to be a coincidence; however, never before in the past were such searches carried out here. We are law-abiding citizens, and we have been cooperating with all the govt agencies."

He said, "Two teams consisting of police and election officials reached the showroom around 10.30pm and started searching the premises without showing any warrant. When asked the reason, they said the searches were being carried out following a complaint of money being distributed there. They did not even reveal the names of the complainants."

When TOI asked the election commission officials about the questions raised by NCP (SCP), they said similar searches were carried out at the office of Kiran Gujar, the election-in-charge of Ajit Pawar in Baramati.