MUMBAI, Aug. 19 -- Elections to the BEST Employees' Credit Society, the first poll seeing a formal alliance between the Shiv Sena (UBT) and MNS, took a murky turn on Monday, with the two parties accusing their opponents of offering money for votes. The accusation was made as polling saw a significant increase in voter turnout, prompting the Utkarsh panel fielded by the Sena (UBT) and MNS accusing the Sahakar Samruddhi panel formed by the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance, of paying members to vote in their favour. The 21 seats to the credit cooperative are being hotly contested by these two panels. Polling on Monday saw a record voter turnout of 83.69%, with 12,656 of the 15,123 members casting their votes. In previous years, the turnout averaged 60-65%. The results will be announced tomorrow. BEST Kamgar Sena chief Suhas Samant, the driving force behind the ruling Utkarsh Panel, claimed the increase in voter turnout was a thumping endorsement for the much-hyped alliance between the Sena (UBT) and MNS, led by cousins Uddhav and Raj Thackeray, respectively. But the election took a nasty turn when MNS leader Sandeep Deshpande on Monday alleged that the BJP-led panel was afraid of the Sena (UBT)-MNS alliance and had therefore paid members to vote in their opponents' favour. "The Mahayuti alliance-led Sahakar Samruddhi Panel is distributing money to lure voters. One of our workers, Dattatray Pednekar, received a pamphlet from the Sahakar Samruddhi Panel. There were two notes of five hundred rupees each in the envelope. He came to me with these. We condemn this low-level politics and will complain to the returning officer," said Deshpande. He further said BEST employees will not succumb to "corrupt practices" and will teach the perpetrators a lesson. Samant concurred, claiming that he too had received complaints of money being offered for votes. However, BJP MLC Prasad Lad, overseeing the election for the Sahakar Samruddhi Panel, flatly denied the charges. "They are levelling this allegation as an excuse for losing the election," said Lad. There was drama just days before the election, with the Mahayuti government's cooperation department and Economic Offences Wing serving notices on office-bearers of the credit society, over alleged irregularities in the credit society....