Congress asked why poll officials were not checking bags of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah or Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. However, videos that surfaced subsequently showed bags of Shah, Shinde, Fadnavis, Ajit Pawar etc being checked by poll authorities.

November 16 has further fired the controversy as election officials checked a bag of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi at Dhamangaon Railway in Maharashtra's Amravati district.
The Congress leader has reached the district to speak at a public rally ahead of the November 20 assembly polls.
Rahul's bag was checked after his helicopter landed at the helipad in Dhamangaon Railway, which is one of the eight assembly seats in Amravati district.

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The check-in video clip shows officials rummaging inside Rahul Gandhi's helicopter on the ground while the Congress leader stands nearby. As the checking continues, Rahul, the leader of opposition in Lok Sabha walked away and could be seen engrossed in discussions with party leaders.

Former state minister and MLA from Teosa in Congress, Yashomati Thakur attacked the poll authorities saying, "They are doing all this, but can't answer why they aren't checking bags of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah or Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.".

Only after Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray was made to undergo it at Yavatmal did the scanning of bags of leaders, part of the election officials' enforcement model code of conduct, come to public light.

Thackeray did more than shoot a video of the procedure. He chided the poll authorities for not opening bags of Modi, Shah, Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis.

But it was soon discovered that videos of poll officials search Shah's, Shinde's, Fadnavis's, Ajit Pawar's bags etc were emerging.

Election officers searched the helicopter carrying Union Home Minister Amit Shah and his baggage after the chopper landed in Maharashtra's Hingoli on November 15 .

Shah is campaigning for the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance in the state ahead of the assembly polls slated to be held on November 20.

A post in X, a statement released by Shah, announced, "BJP believes in free and fair elections, follows all the laid-down rules, and protocols.".