Former premier Jeff Kennett lashes Daniel Andrews for voting in secret and away from his local electorate of Mulgrave

Daniel Andrews has come under fire from a former premier for insulting his electorate of Mulgrave by voting at a city pre-poll venue – only hours after batting away suggestions he may lose the seat.

Mr Andrews, his wife Cath and two of their children, Noah and Grace, cast their votes at a polling booth near parliament on Thursday evening and later posted a picture of the moment to social media.

“Like so many other Victorians, we’ve got a few things happening on Saturday so we voted early and on the way to somewhere else,” the Premier tweeted.

Former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett scolded Mr Andrews on social media in several tweets for going against the normal protocols of voting in a candidate’s local electorate.

“What an insult to the voters in Mulgrave,” Mr Kennett said on Twitter.

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“Candidate Andrews I think is asking the people of his electorate to vote for him on Saturday. But he does not have the decency to vote with them.”

Mr Kennett – who served as a Liberal premier from 1992 to 1999 – highlighted how unusual the move was, given that MPs traditionally seize the opportunity to vote among their local constituents.

“A Premier, a local MP does not vote in his own electorate on Saturday. Never heard of that before. He has hardly been in his electorate since pre polling began. Man of the people? Not this Premier,” he continued.

The early vote came in secret without media present and only hours after Mr Andrews was forced to defend polls that suggested he was in danger of losing a slew of seats, including his electorate of Mulgrave.

Polling by bi-partisan RedBridge Group, which was published by the Herald Sun on Thursday, suggested that Labor would fall two seats short of the 45 needed to form a majority government.

One of the shocking losses could be Mr Andrews’ seat but the Premier dismissed the suggestions and praised his community when pressed by reporters on Thursday.

“I live in my community, I always have. I am very proud of the work we’ve done,” he said.

“All manner of different investments in the mighty Mulgrave community, it will be a matter for my neighbours, my constituents, to make their choice.

“We offer a positive plan for Mulgrave.”

Mr Andrews highlighted he was delivering more trains, more often, for residents on his local Dandenong line and that as result of his work constituents in that electorate would be connected to the metro tunnel and airport.

Despite Mr Andrews holding the seat since 2002, Independent challenger Ian Cook has gained momentum in the electorate off the back of an anti-corruption campaign.

Mr Cook has sued the Andrews government for $50 million over allegations that his business ICook Foods – which prepared meals to aged care homes – was forced to close after a Dandenong health official planted a slug to close the government competitor.

Independent exit polling of 159 voters in Mulgrave saw Mr Cook had a 57.2 per cent lead, with the Premier receiving 42.8 per cent of votes.

However, a loss is not guaranteed, given Mr Andrews received 57 per cent of first preference votes during the 2018 election and he currently holds the seat by a margin of 15.8 per cent.