Congress itself indulges in ‘vote theft’, alleges Maha CM Devendra Fadnavis

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis accused the Congress of indulging in “vote theft” based on a Satara district BJP MLA’s claims.

Addressing media persons here on Friday, Fadnavis said, “BJP MLA Atul Bhosale has exposed how family members and associates of former CM and senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan were involved in voting in more than one place”.

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Incidentally, Bhosale had defeated Chavan from the Karad South assembly constituency in the November 2024 Maharashtra assembly elections.

“The Congress stands exposed. Our MLA (Bhosale) has clearly shown how the Congress is indulging in vote theft. It is up to Rahul Gandhi to respond to this revelation,” Fadnavis told media persons.

Earlier this month, senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had made allegations of “vote theft” against the BJP, accusing the Election Commission of India (ECI) of colluding with the ruling BJP. The Congress leader had also claimed that the poll body had not performed its duty of enforcing the ‘one man, one vote’ principle.

While criticising the Opposition and the election commission, Rahul Gandhi cited data from the 2024 Lok Sabha polls to claim that more than 1 lakh votes were “stolen” through five types of manipulation in the Mahadevapura Assembly segment of the Bangalore Central Lok Sabha seat in Karnataka.

Replying to a question about the forthcoming vice-presidential elections, Fadnavis said he had spoken to Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar, seeking their support for NDA’s candidate CP Radhakrishnan. “The election for the post of vice-president is non-partisan. There is no whip. I told them that since they espouse the Marathi and Maharashtra pride (“asmita”), they should support him. Radhakrishnan is the Maharashtra Governor and a registered voter in Mumbai,” Fadnavis said.

“Uddhav Thackeray said he would discuss the matter with others, while Sharad Pawar said since the Opposition had also fielded its candidate, he would back the Opposition’s candidate for the vice president’s election,” Fadnavis said.