Aaditya Thackeray accuses govt of ‘Vote Chori’, flags 19,000 voter anomalies

Shiv Sena UBT leader Aaditya Thackeray on Monday made a presentation on anomalies in the voters list titled lsquoBogus Sarkar Bogus Matadar fake government fake votersrsquo claiming that this was the root cause behind the Maha Vikas Aghadi MVA defeat in the Assembly elections Highlighting the largescale irregularities in the votersrsquo list he launched a scathing attack on the Election Commission of India ECIAaditya the MLA from the Worli Assembly constituency made the presentation on similar lines to the one made in September by Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi The Congress leader had presented evidence alleging widespread electoral roll manipulation At the time he termed the entire process as lsquoVote Chorirsquo the charges which were refuted by the ECIWhile making a presentation to Sena UBT leaders and workers at a meeting held at the NSCI Dome in Worli on Monday Aaditya asserted that in May 2024 Lok Sabha elections were held and the MVA got a massive victory However the results in the Assembly elections held in October were the opposite and shocking for many ldquoSome first thought the issue was with EVMs or VVPATs But later it was realised that the real problem lies in the faulty voters listrdquo Thackeray said accusing the government of benefiting from fake and deleted voter entriesWith Maharashtra gearing up for the local body polls including BMC and 28 other municipal corporations Thackeray Jr maintained that once the draft electoral rolls are published the real fight will begin ldquoNow the election fight will not be through rallies or banners but through efforts to clean up the voter list If the rolls are corrected genuine voters will elect genuine representativesrdquo Thackeray said and asked Sena UBT workers to scrutinise the latest electoral rolls published by the state election officeAaditya during the presentation gave an example of his Worli Assembly constituency alleging that a personrsquos name was deleted in the Lok Sabha voter list citing that the person is dead But the same personrsquos name appeared in the voter list for the Assembly polls ldquoI believe the person was reborn and his name was added in the listrdquo Thackeray said sarcastically citing major errors and faults in the electoral rollsFurther the Sena UBT leader through his presentation explained drastic changes in the votersrsquo list of Worli between the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections held in May 2024 and October 2024 respectivelyAccording to Aaditya the total number of voters increased from 252970 in May to 263352 in October ldquoNearly 16000 voters were added in the span of four months During the same period nearly 5000 voters were deleted But when we conducted a detailed analysis of the entire list we found 19000 anomalies This is nothing but Vote Chorirdquo Aaditya allegedUddhav lashes out at govtShiv Sena UBT leader Uddhav Thackeray on Monday accused the ruling government of influencing the votersrsquo list for its benefit Addressing the crowd at an auditorium in Worli Uddhav sarcastically said ldquoIn a democracy people elect the government But today it seems the government is deciding who the voters will berdquoShiv Sena UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray has asked his party workers to begin verifying voter lists PICSAYYED SAMEER ABEDIReiterating what Maharashtra Navnirman Sena MNS chief Raj Thackeray had mentioned earlier Uddhav too warned that unless electoral rolls are rectified the party will not allow elections to be conductedMobilising party workers Uddhav stated that each electoral list will comprise 1200 voters ldquoIf one considers an average of four to five persons in one house party workers will have to visit 300 houses to verify the list I urge party workers to begin this exercise immediately so that on voting day political partiesrsquo polling agents can identify and differentiate between genuine and bogus votersrdquo Uddav saidFurther hitting back at Union Home Minister Amit Shah for his remarks on dynasty politics in Mumbai on Monday Uddhav said ldquoShah is talking about family rule But what about his own son read as Amit Shahrsquos son Jay who is running Indian cricket Is it on merit or because of the dynastyrdquo