Rahul Accuses CM Fadnavis of Voter Fraud; Fadnavis Hits Back
Nagpur: Congress leader
Rahul Gandhi
alleged voter manipulation and electoral malpractice in CM
Devendra Fadnavis
' constituency of South-West Nagpur, claiming a surge in voter numbers in the 5-month period between Lok Sabha and Assembly polls in 2024.
Fadnavis shot back, saying Gandhi was lying and the spike in voters was witnessed even in constituencies where Congress and its allies won.
In a post on X, Gandhi wrote "In Maharashtra CM's own constituency, the voter list grew by 8% in just 5 months. Some booths saw a 20-50% surge. Booth level officers (BLO) reported unknown individuals casting votes. Media uncovered thousands of voters with no verified address". Gandhi even took on Election Commission of India (ECI), saying what happened was a vote heist.
Gandhi wrote "And EC? Silent or complicit. These aren't isolated glitches.
This is vote theft. The cover-up is the confession. That's why we demand immediate release of machine-readable digital voter rolls and CCTV footage."
Earlier this month, Gandhi had alleged voter fraud across Maharashtra and cited Kamptee constituency, which is represented by BJP state president Chandrashekhar Bawankule. BJP had responded by saying due to rapid urbanization, number of voters had risen in Kamptee.
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But now with Gandhi directly taking on Fadnavis, the stakes just got bigger. Fadnavis said, Gandhi is still reeling from last year's assembly poll defeat hence such statements. "Jhoot bole kauwa kaate", wrote Fadnavis on X, "it's clear that your pain of poll defeat is increasing everyday but how long will you keep firing blanks?". After the sarcasm, Fadnavis got down to hard statistics, saying surge in number of voters is a statewide phenomenon.
"There are more than 25 constituencies in Maharashtra where voter turnout rose by over 8% between Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, and Congress won in many of those places," wrote Fadnavis.
Fadnavis concluded by mocking Gandhi, saying it would have been better if he had spoken with Congress MLAs whose constituencies witnessed a voter surge before polls. "At least it would have not resulted in display of miscommunication within Congress," wrote Fadnavis.
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