India, Jan. 10 -- A major political development has shaken the Sangli Municipal Corporation election campaign, with the police issuing an externment order against a key candidate allied with deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) ahead of a scheduled rally.

According to officials, police in Miraj took the preventive action under election-related security measures, issuing exclusion orders against eight individuals, including Azam Kazi fielded by NCP from ward number 6. The step taken a day before Pawar's political campaign in Miraj on Friday has surprised political circles.

Authorities said that the orders were issued to curb the influence of local criminal elements during the ongoing municipal election peri...