Mumbai: Opposition parties on Sunday claimed that electoral rolls in Maharashtra contain around "one crore bogus voters" and announced to organise a joint rally in Mumbai on November 1 to urge Election Commission to remove the dubious entries.
The BJP reacted by accusing the opposition parties of trying to set a fake narrative ahead of the upcoming elections to local bodies.
Addressing booth-level agents of MNS, the party head Raj Thackeray claimed that 96 lakh fake voters have been added to the voter’s lists ahead of the upcoming local body polls. He dared the Election Commission to conduct elections until the voters list is cleaned.
After Thackeray addressed booth-level workers of MNS, Sanjay Raut of Shiv Sena (UBT), Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) leader Bala Nandgaonkar, NCP (SP) leader Jayant Patil and the Congress' Sachin Sawant addressed a press conference.
Earlier in the day, Thackeray said holding elections by rigging the voters' lists will amount to the biggest insult to electors. He urged his party workers to verify the voters' list to find out fake voters.
Various Opposition parties, including the Shiv Sena (UBT), Congress, NCP (SP) and MNS, recently met the State Election Commissioner and Chief Electoral Officer, while claiming that there are duplicate names in the electoral rolls across different addresses and assembly segments.
The Opposition has called for rectifying the electoral rolls and removing anomalies ahead of the rural and urban body elections, which are to be completed by January 31, 2026.
The Maharashtra State Election Commission on Saturday said that no political party can tamper with the electoral rolls and those corrections and updates on the voter lists are being managed securely.
"An attempt is being made to finish regional parties. I have learnt that 96 lakh fake voters have been enrolled in the voters' lists in Maharashtra for the upcoming polls. They had also done this during the state polls as well," the MNS chief said.
He claimed that 8 to 10 lakh fake voters have been added in Mumbai and 8 to 8.5 lakh electors in Thane, Pune, and Nashik.
"They have done it in every village and city. Will polls take place like this in the country? If polls are held like this, then it is an insult to voters in Maharashtra and the country," he said.
Thackeray stated that the ruling parties feel hurt when the Opposition hits out at the Election Commission.