India, 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 average...