MUMBAI, Jan. 2 -- With many instances of ruling alliance candidates getting elected unopposed in the local body elections, the State Election Commission (SEC) has sought reports from various authorities to check if there was either coercion or allurement involved in getting opposing candidates to withdraw. The SEC proclaimed that it would not allow the returning officers (ROs) of these wards to announce the election of the ruling alliance candidates until the reports were submitted. There is at least one BJP candidate each in the Pimpri-Chinchwad, Jalgaon and Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar civic bodies who has been elected unopposed, while five BJP and four Shiv Sena candidates are expected to be elected unopposed in the Kalyan-Dombivli municipal corporation, as there are no candidates standing against them. The SEC has been getting many complaints of intimidation by the ruling parties, in cahoots with the election machinery, to prevent candidates from filing their nominations. Rekha Redkar of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) filed a complaint for not being allowed by the RO to file her nomination on the last day. "The poll machinery is biased," she said. "They allowed BJP candidates to submit the documents even after the deadline whereas I was not even given a token despite reaching well before the deadline." Apart from Redkar's, the poll body has received at least two more similar complaints from other wards and corporations. Candidates from the Congress, Janata Dal(S) and AAP have alleged that this also happened in three wards in Colaba. An SEC official said they would get reports from nine wards where candidates had been elected unopposed. "We will get the reports after January 3, the last date of withdrawal," said the official. "After this, reports will be sought from ROs, the BMC commissioner (who is also the district election officer) and the police commissioners of the respective municipal corporations to ascertain if opposing candidates were pressurised or bribed to withdraw from the fray. Till the reports are received, the ROs will not be allowed to announce the names of the candidates who have been elected unopposed." Another officer said that the instances of unopposed election, especially when the fights were multi-pronged and the stakes high, were surprising. Asked what action would be taken if the reports substantiated violation of rules, the officer said that the SEC could take action only against the RO. In Ward A, complaints have been received against BJP MLA and assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar for allegedly conniving with the RO to prevent other candidates from filling their nomination forms. Former MP Haribhau Rathod, who has filed a complaint against the RO as well, told reporters, "Narwekar was sitting inside the RO's office. His relatives are contesting from three Colaba wards and these were his tactics to get the BJP candidates elected unopposed." An SEC official said that they had sought a report from BMC commissioner Bhushan Gagrani on the alleged pressure by Narwekar on the Ward A RO....