Devendra Fadnavis slams Rahul Gandhi over voter list claim

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday hit out at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his allegations regarding voter list manipulation in the state asking the latter to first speak to his partys elected MLAs before shooting arrows blindlyIn a post on X Devendra Fadnavis used a Hindi proverb to mock Gandhis claims and cited specific constituencies to counter the charge of discrepancies in the voter listJhooth bole kauwa kaate kaale kauwe se dariyo Rahul Gandhi I understand the sting of your humiliating defeat in Maharashtra is intensifying by the day But how long will you keep shooting arrows blindly Fadnavis wrote on X hellip 25 837 hellip httpstcoYtpuKNeUNEmdash Devendra Fadnavis Dev_Fadnavis June 24 2025The chief minister pointed out that more than 25 constituencies in Maharashtra saw more than an 8 per cent increase in voter numbers between the Lok Sabha and assembly elections and in many of these the Congress or its allies emerged victoriousIn West Nagpur next to my own South West seat voter count rose by 7 per cent 27065 and Congress candidate Vikas Thakre won In North Nagpur there was a 7 per cent rise 29348 voters and the Congress Nitin Raut secured victory he saidIn Vadgaon Sheri Pune voter numbers jumped by 10 per cent 50911 and Bapu Pathare from the NCP Sharadchandra Pawar won In Malad West the increase was 11 per cent 38625 and your own partys Aslam Shaikh was elected In Mumbra there was a 9 per cent increase 46041 and Jitendra Awhad from the NCP Sharadchandra Pawar won he wrote in the postTaking a dig at Gandhis communication style Fadnavis said the Congress leader should have spoken to his longtime colleagues Aslam Shaikh Vikas Thakare or Nitin Raut before tweetingThis way you wouldnt have exposed the Congress partys lack of internal communication so embarrassingly he saidEarlier in a post on X the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha alleged irregularities in the Maharashtra assembly polls claiming that there werent isolated glitches but vote theftHe shared a media report that claimed in just six months between the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and the Maharashtra assembly polls Nagpur South West added 29219 new votersIn Maharashtra CMs constituency the voter list grew by 837 in just 5 months Some booths saw a 2050 per cent surge BLOs reported unknown individuals casting votes Gandhi said in his post which has drawn sharp criticism from the ruling BJPMedia uncovered thousands of voters with no verified address And the EC Silent or complicit These arent isolated glitches This is vote theft The coverup is the confession he saidThats why we demand the immediate release of machinereadable digital voter rolls and CCTV footage Gandhi addedGandhis remarks came on a day it emerged that the Election Commission has formally written to him on his allegations of rigging in the 2024 Maharashtra polls saying all polls held by the poll panel strictly as per laws passed by Parliament and rules and the entire exercise involves thousands of personnel including boothlevel agents appointed by political partiesIn a letter emailed to him on June 12 in response to his article written in a leading daily the EC has said the entire election process is conducted in a decentralised manner at the assembly constituency level which involved more than 100186 Booth Level Officers BLOs 288 Electoral Registration Officers EROs 139 General Observers 41 Police Observers 71 Expenditure Observers and 288 Returning Officers ROS appointed by the Commission reported PTIWe presume that any issue regarding conduct of elections would have already been raised through election petitions filed in the competent court of law high court by the INC candidates it told the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha reported PTIHowever if you still have any issues you are welcome to write to us and the Commission is also willing to meet you in person at a mutually convenient date and time to discuss all issues the poll authority said reported PTIWith inputs from PTI