‘Studying poll results, will highlight issue’: Pawar on ‘vote theft’ charges

Mumbai: Amid a row over Congress’s ‘vote theft’ allegations targeted at the ECI and BJP, NCP (SP) president Sharad Pawar on Friday said the Opposition would unite to raise this issue and highlight it before the country’s citizens.

Addressing a press conference here, he said his party was also studying the

election results.

Earlier this month, Congress leader Rahul 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 Bangalore Central Lok Sabha seat in Karnataka.

Talking about the issue, Pawar said: “We are also studying the results of (the past) elections by the ECI and will put forth the issue of votes (vote theft) before the people in the country. It will take two weeks to make a concrete plan.”

Meanwhile, Pawar also said Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had called him up to seek support for NDA’s vice-presidential candidate CP Radhakrishnan, but he expressed his inability to accept the request.

Talking to reporters here, Pawar said the BJP-led NDA’s candidate was not aligned with the ideology of his party and other members of the Opposition.