Nashik: The Dhule Municipal Corporation (DMC) elections held on Sunday witnessed over 55% voter turnout.The counting of votes would take place on Monday. The voting took place for 73 of the total 74 seats as a Samajwadi Party candidate has already won a seat uncontested since nomination papers of other candidates from that ward were rejected.Municipal commissioner Sudhakar Deshmukh, who is also the chief returning officer for the election, told TOI that the turnover was between 55% and 60%. “The election went off peacefully and there were no reports of any untoward incident,” he said.The voting in 450 polling booths was sluggish before noon, but it picked up after 3pm. Union minister of defence and local MP Subash Bhamre, rebel BJP MLA Anil Gote and top leaders from various political parties also exercised their franchise.The civic polls have become extremely interesting as the BJP is trying to come to power for the first time and is contesting on 62 seats. But Gote, who rebelled against the saffron party for sidelining him, has fielded candidates on all the seats and this could hamper BJP’s chances of winning. The ruling Congress-NCP alliance is in the race to retain power and is contesting on 67 seats.Meanwhile, the city witnessed high drama on Saturday night when unknown miscreants pelted stones at Gote’s car and damaged the windshield. However, Gote was not in the vehicle at that time.He alleged that the incident was the handiwork of his political opponents who are angry at him for contesting the polls.“I was in my office when the incident took place and ran from there apprehending I could be targeted. Since I am an asthma patient and also have sugar problems I was feeling unwell and had to visit the doctor late in the night,” he said.Gote added that he did not file any complaint with the police as it would not serve any purpose.

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