NewKerala.com

Key Points

Sharad Pawar has joined Rahul Gandhi in alleging widespread vote theft across Maharashtra's assembly constituencies. The NCP(SP) claims to have uncovered 27,000 duplicate voters in Shirur and 49,000 fake votes in Hadapsar within just five months. Party candidates who lost elections are presenting evidence of identical names, wrong addresses, and unrecognizable photos in voter lists. They plan to approach courts while organizing a people's movement against what they call systematic "vote chori" across the state.

Key Points: Sharad Pawar Alleges Vote Theft in Shirur Hadapsar Assembly Seats

  • Pawar supports Rahul Gandhi's vote theft allegations with Maharashtra evidence
  • NCP(SP) found 27k duplicate voters in Shirur Assembly constituency
  • Party identifies 49k fake votes in Hadapsar seat within five months
  • Election Commission facing criticism for not addressing voter list irregularities
3 min read

Sharad Pawar alleges 'vote chori' in Shirur, Hadapsar Assembly seats

NCP(SP) chief Sharad Pawar supports Rahul Gandhi's vote theft claims, revealing 27,000 duplicate voters in Shirur and 49,000 fake votes in Hadapsar constituencies.

"We have till now identified 27,000 voters with identical names on different polling booths, wrong addresses, unrecognisable photos - Ashok Pawar"

Mumbai, Aug 22

Nationalist Congress Party (SP) chief Sharad Pawar on Friday joined the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi's charges of “vote chori”, saying that the party has begun a similar study in Assembly seats in Maharashtra, and identical incidents of duplicate and fake voters, wrong addresses have been discovered in many constituencies.

The party said that it will soon be presenting a detailed study of all Assembly seats and approaching the courts as well.

Pawar was accompanied by party nominees Ashok Pawar and Prashant Jagtap, who lost from Shirur and Hadapsar Assembly seats in the 2024 elections.

“The party has begun the study of the voters' list in the state. We are not questioning the government. It is about the Election Commission. Last week, 300 MPs hit the streets against the Election Commission. Rahul Gandhi's yatra in Bihar is getting a huge response...the Election Commission is not taking a clear stand on the issue that is being raised today. But it is being raised from Bihar, and the whole nation is looking at it,” Pawar said.

When asked whether his party will be submitting documents and evidence to the commission, Pawar said, “We are collecting more, and then we will submit it. We have no big expectations from the commission. Because, the kind of reaction it has given after the issue raised by Rahul Gandhi, we do not think we will get a different response.”

“In the five years from 2019 to 2024 Lok Sabha, the voter number increased by 49,837 and from 2024 Lok Sabha to the Assembly polls in the same year, the voter number increased by 32,319 in Shirur Assembly seat. We have till now identified 27,000 voters with identical names on different polling booths, wrong addresses, unrecognisable photos,” said Ashok Pawar, former Shirur MLA who was defeated by Mauli Katke of NCP in the 2024 Assembly polls.

Prashant Jagtap, who lost the election against Chetan Tupe of the NCP from the Hadpsar seat, said that 40,300 new voters were added within five months between the 2024 Lok Sabha to Assembly polls in the same year. “As per our study till now, we have identified 49,000 votes which are fake. We have complained to the Election Commission of India seeking details of Form 17 A, but we are being denied,” said Jagtap.

Form 17 A is used as a register to prevent fraudulent voting by ensuring that each voter has cast a vote only once. Jagtap said that he has also approached the Bombay High Court on the specific inclusion and deletion of voters from his constituency.

NCP (SP) national spokesperson and MLA Jitendra Awhad said that the party will be organising a people's movement in the state against the “vote-chori” (vote-theft).

Earlier, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had claimed that relatives of Congress leader and former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan have been found voting multiple times. “Rahul Gandhi should reply to this. The real ‘vote chori’ is being done by the Congress,” said the CM.

Replying to this, former NCP (SP) state president Jayant Patil thanked Fadnavis for accepting the problems in the voters' list. “It is good that even Fadnavis has now accepted that there are problems in the voters' list. It is high time that he, too, joins us to demand verification of the existing voters' list,” he added.

- IANS

Share this article:

Reader Comments

P
Priya S
Both sides are making allegations now. Fadnavis says Congress did vote chori, Pawar says BJP did it. The truth is probably somewhere in between. EC should investigate all claims impartially.
A
Aman W
Adding 40,300 new voters in just 5 months? That's mathematically impossible through natural population growth. Something is definitely wrong with the voter lists. EC needs to answer for this!
S
Sarah B
As someone who recently moved to Pune, I found the voter registration process quite chaotic. Multiple people at my apartment building got voting cards despite not being permanent residents. The system needs more checks.
N
Nikhil C
Why are they approaching courts only after losing elections? If they had evidence, they should have raised this before polling. Sounds like sour grapes to me. 🤔
M
Meera T
Whatever the truth may be, we need electoral reforms urgently. Aadhaar linking with voter ID, biometric verification, and transparent voter list maintenance should be mandatory. Our democracy deserves better!

We welcome thoughtful discussions from our readers. Please keep comments respectful and on-topic.

Leave a Comment

Minimum 50 characters 0/50