Criticising the Election Commission of India ahead of the local body elections, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray on Monday claimed that 96 lakh fake voters have been added, as per the information received.
The MNS chief asked the Election Commission not to hold elections in Maharashtra until the issue of fake voters is cleaned up.
Addressing party workers ahead of local body elections on Sunday, MNS chief said, "Reliable information has just been received that 9.6 million (96 lakh) fake voters have been added. This is an insult to the voters of Maharashtra and the country."
"All the group presidents (group presidents), branch presidents, and election list heads should go door to door and count the votes. I'm asking the Election Commission not to hold elections in Maharashtra until this is clean," Thackeray added.
Meanwhile, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut backed Raj Thackeray's claims and added that Opposition parties will participate in a protest march against the bogus voters.
Addressing the issue in the press conference in Mumbai, Raut clarified the party's position, saying, "We have never said that we will not contest the BMC election. We only said that first, the voter list should be corrected. According to Raj Thackeray, 9.6 million voters are bogus in the list."
"On November 1, all Opposition parties will participate in a long march against the bogus voters in the list," he added.
A day earlier, Raut announced plans for a meeting with election officials in Maharashtra, led by party chief Uddhav Thackeray, to address concerns over discrepancies in the voter list.
Raut stated that Thackeray, along with other party leaders, including Raj Thackeray of MNS and Sharad Pawar of NCP-SCP, will meet officials to discuss voter list discrepancies.
"Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, MNS chief Raj Thackeray, Congress leaders, NCP-SCP chief Sharad Pawar will meet the officials and bring to their attention the issue of discrepancy in the voter list in Maharashtra...They do match fixing and then contest elections," Raut said.
He alleged that electoral irregularities and "match-fixing" occur during elections, emphasising the need for a thorough investigation.
Raut accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of doing "match fixing" and contesting elections and announced to hold a massive march in Mumbai against the Election Commission of India (ECI) on November 1, which party chief Uddhav Thackeray, MNS president Raj Thackeray and other opposition leaders will join.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said that Shiv Sena is fully prepared for the upcoming local body elections and expressed confidence that the Mahayuti alliance will secure a big victory.
"Shiv Sena is always ready. We work 24/7. Mahayuti will win the local body elections with a big margin," Shinde told reporters.
Earlier this year, Rahul Gandhi alleged that the Maharashtra assembly election held in November 2024 was "rigged" and claimed that the same would be repeated in the Bihar assembly polls.
Rahul Gandhi claimed that there were fake voters in the Maharashtra Assembly Elections. He alleged that the number of voters added to the list in the five months ahead of the polls was more than the number added in the last five years.
(With inputs from ANI)
