Amid speculation of an alliance between the Raj Thackeray-led MNS and his cousin Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena (UBT), both the leaders have raised the issue of "vote theft" and asked their party workers to check the electoral rolls to assess bogus voters, reported news agency PTI.

Their comments come at a time when similar allegations of manipulation of voter lists have been made by Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and other opposition parties.

In last year's elections to the 288-member Maharashtra assembly, the Shiv Sena (UBT), which contested the polls in alliance with the Congress and Sharad Pawar's NCP (SP), secured 20 seats, while the MNS did not win a single seat.