File photo of Ajit Pawar.
Hours before Maharashtra voted today, one of the state's top politicians - Ajit Pawar, Deputy Chief Minister - allegedly warned a group of villagers that they would be left without water if they didn't vote for his cousin, Supriya Sule.
Ms Sule's father - Sharad Pawar - is the head of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which has co-governed Maharashtra with the Congress for nearly 10 years.
Ajit Pawar, 65, was filmed on a cellphone threatening, "We could see on the voting machine which village has voted for whom...I was the one who bought water to the village after lot of efforts and if you don't vote for us I will stop water supply to the village." The recorded footage has blurry video.
Baramati, which hosts thousands of sugar-cane farmers, grapples repeatedly with drought.
At the same meeting, a little later, a young man asked why the supply of water to the village remains erratic.
When he refused to be side-stepped and persisted with his questioning, Ajit Pawar allegedly asked his supporters to remove the man from the meeting.
However, sources in Mr Pawar's party said their is nothing to establish the authenticity of the footage and said it could be doctored.
Meanwhile, candidates from the Shiv Sena and the Aam Aadmi Party have complained about this incident to local election officials who say they are investigating the matter.
Maharashtra elects 48 parliamentarians for the Lok Sabha. The state is voting in three phases which will end on May 24.
Surveys predict the BJP and its partner, the Shiv Sena, will forcefully oust the Congress-NCP coalition government.