‘BJP believes in fair election’: Amit Shah shares video of EC officials checking helicopter amid Uddhav bag-checking row

Maharashtra Elections: The Election Commission officials on Friday checked the helicopter of Union Home Minister Amit Shah after he arrived in Maharashtra's Hingoli to campaign for party candidate contesting state assembly election.

Shah posted the video of officials checking his helicopter amid ongoing controversy over checking of Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray's bags on at least three occasions.

A few days ago, Thackeray expressed anger over the checking of his bags and asked whether the ECI officials checked the bags of PM Narendra Modi, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Devendra Fadnavis and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Ajit Pawar.

“Today, during my election campaign in Hingoli Assembly constituency of Maharashtra, my helicopter was inspected by Election Commission officials,” said Shah in a post on X.

The Union Minister added that BJP believes in fair elections and healthy election system and follows all the rules made by the Honourable Election Commission.

“We all must contribute to a healthy election system and perform our duties in keeping India as the strongest democracy in the world,” Shah stated.

Shinde, Fadnavis' bags too checked

Earlier this week, after Thackeray's bag checking row, the Maharashtra BJP posted a video on X showing checking of Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis' bags, and said merely holding the Constitution for "show" is not enough and one must also follow the constitutional system.

Some leaders have the habit of creating "drama", the BJP said in the post.

Whereas, on Wednesday, the EC officials also checked the bag of Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde at Palghar Police ground helipad as part of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).

Eknath Shinde had arrived in Palghar for an Assembly election campaign where ECI officials, as a security precaution, checked CM's bags and helicopter after it landed.

Earlier, Fadnavis said Thackeray was trying to divert the attention by needlessly protesting about the checking of his bags.