Maharashtra elections: Independent candidate from Beed seat suffered a heart attack, died at the polling booth itself

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Voting for the assembly elections in Maharashtra has concluded. Meanwhile, police said that an independent candidate from Beed suffered a heart attack on Wednesday while he was waiting for his turn to vote at a polling booth. The man was taken to the hospital where doctors declared him dead, his name was Balasaheb Shinde. Voting took place on 288 seats today to elect a new government in Maharashtra. The counting of votes will take place on November 23. 

So can the voting be postponed?

Balasaheb Shinde collapsed on the ground at the Chhatrapati Shahu Vidyalaya polling booth in Beed. He was first rushed to Kaku Nana Hospital in Beed and then to Chhatrapati Shambhaji Nagar Hospital, where doctors declared him dead. Police said the body has been sent for post-mortem. According to the Representation of the People Act 1951, if a candidate dies during an election, polling in the concerned seat can be postponed under Section 52.

The beed seat has gone to Ajit Pawar’s faction.

The Beed assembly seat was once a stronghold of Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). After the split, Ajit Pawar represents a faction of the NCP, which is in alliance with the BJP and Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena. Let us tell you that the main contest in Maharashtra is between the Mahayuti (led by BJP, Eknath Shinde’s Sena and Ajit Pawar’s NCP) and the Maha Vikas Aghadi (led by Congress, Uddhav Thackeray’s Sena and Sharad Pawar’s NCP) alliances.