Overview
- District collector Dilip Swami ordered a probe in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar after video showed Shiv Sena MLA Vilas Bhumre taking his minor son into a Pachod booth where both were inked.
- Three personnel posted at the Pachod polling station were suspended pending the inquiry, including the head of the booth and a booth officer, according to an official release.
- In a separate Solapur incident, video from Akluj shows a 14-year-old beside his father, candidate Arjun Sinh Mohite Patil, allegedly pressing an EVM button inside the Yashwant Nagar booth.
- Election rules permit only registered voters near the EVM, prompting concerns over procedural breaches and booth-level compliance raised by observers and civil groups.
- Bhumre downplayed the episode as a child’s curiosity, and Mohite Patil said he sought permission for his son to observe, while officials in Solapur had not immediately filed a formal complaint.