Bid to include bogus voters in Maharashtra assembly seats to be contested by BJP: Saamana

Mumbai: Ahead of the Maharashtra assembly polls, the opposition Shiv Sena (UBT) on Monday alleged there were attempts to include bogus names in the voters' lists across 150 assembly constituencies which it claimed the BJP was planning to contest.

An editorial in 'Saamana', the mouthpiece of the Sena (UBT) led by former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, also claimed such "tampering" was being resorted to as the BJP fears a defeat in the state polls.

Elections to the 288-member Maharashtra assembly are scheduled on November 20, and vote counting will be held on November 23.

The Shiv Sena (UBT) is a constituent of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) along with the Congress and Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP).

"The BJP has resorted to such unethical measures to tamper with the electoral roll due to the fear of losing the state. There are some 150 assembly constituencies that the BJP is planning to contest in this election. The party has scrutinised the voting patterns in the past and identified some 10,000 voters' names for deletion. The party is replacing those names with bogus ones," the 'Saamana' editorial alleged.

The administration has foiled an attempt to insert such 6,853 "bogus" names in the voters' list in Rajura assembly segment of Chandrapur district, it said.

"This has revealed the BJP's plans to tamper with the electoral rolls. The party workers are using Aadhaar card numbers of people who reside in Madhya Pradesh or Chhattisgarh to include their names in Maharashtra," the Marathi daily claimed.

Notably, Congress MLA Subhash Dhote clinched the Rajura assembly seat in the 2019 assembly election.

"The BJP has employed several people to carry out this tampering of electoral rolls in selected assembly segments. A special training session was also organised by the BJP," the editorial alleged.

The BJP does not have the courage for a fair contest with the Shiv Sena (UBT), hence it has conspired to win the election through such means, it said.

"The Election Commission is acting like deaf, mute and blind and the only work left with its officials is to follow orders of BJP leaders," the editorial charged, and claimed that EC officials have separate rules for separate states.

The MVA constituents, mainly the Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT), have demanded the removal of Maharashtra Director General of Police Rashmi Shukla before the polls.

The Congress has claimed the top IPS officer has been involved in illegal tapping of opposition leaders’ phones, misleading competent authorities in the process.

The Sena (UBT) mouthpiece said, "We requested the EC officials to transfer Shukla as she would not be a fair official during such elections. The EC refused our demand, saying it does not have the power to take such action. However, the same EC transferred Jharkhand state DGP when the opposition party, BJP, demanded. Is there a separate set of rules for Maharashtra and Jharkhand?" it asked.

The Election Commission on Saturday directed the Jharkhand government to remove Acting Director General of Police (DGP) Anurag Gupta from his post with immediate effect due to a "history" of complaints against him in previous elections, as per sources.

The Jharkhand assembly elections will be held in two phases on November 13 and 20.