India, Nov. 26 -- Amid the growing incidence of 'unopposed' elections in the yet-to-begin local body polls in Maharashtra, and the BJP's announcement that it has already won 100 seats on account of this, NCP (SP) MP Supriya Sule has expressed concern and termed the practice "anti-democratic". The MP has demanded that the State Election Commission (SEC) take stringent action in cases of forcible unopposed elections.

The 'elected unopposed' pattern, which has suddenly emerged in the state, refers to powerful leaders using all their political clout and influence to "persuade" rival candidates to back out. An example of this was the nomination of an NCP candidate being declared void and the daughter-in-law of a leader, newly inducted into th...