MUMBAI: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday slammed the Congress over its “vote theft” allegations, claiming that a BJP MLA from Satara district has exposed how the opposition party itself indulges in such fraudulent means.Talking to reporters here, Fadnavis said BJP MLA Atul Bhosale has exposed how family members and associates of former CM and senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan were involved in voting in more than one place.Bhosale defeated Chavan from the Karad South assembly constituency in the November 2024 state polls.”The Congress stands exposed. Our MLA (Bhosale) has clearly shown how the Congress is indulging in vote theft. It is up to Rahul Gandhi to respond to this revelation,” he said.Earlier this month, Gandhi made allegations of “vote chori” in elections, accusing the Election Commission of India (ECI) of colluding with the ruling BJP.He claimed that the poll body has not performed its duty of enforcing the ‘one man, one vote’ principle.The Congress leader cited data from the 2024 Lok Sabha polls to claim that more than 1 lakh votes were “stolen” through five types of manipulation in the Mahadevapura Assembly segment of the Bangalore Central Lok Sabha seat in Karnataka.Replying to a question about the upcoming vice-presidential elections, Fadnavis said he has spoken to Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar and sought their support to NDA candidate C P Radhakrishnan.”Election for the post of vice-president is non-partisan. There is no whip. I told them that since they espouse the Marathi and Maharashtra asmita (pride), they should support him. Radhakrishnan is Maharashtra Governor and a registered voter in Mumbai,” he said.
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