Fadnavis hits back at Congress, says party ‘caught in its own web’ over vote theft row 

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday launched a sharp attack on the Congress, accusing it of hypocrisy over its claims of “vote theft”. He said fresh revelations by BJP MLA Atul Bhosale from Satara district had exposed how Congress leaders themselves were involved in irregular voting during last year’s Assembly election. 

Speaking to reporters in Mumbai, Mr. Fadnavis alleged that Mr. Bhosale had presented evidence showing that relatives and close aides of former Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan had cast votes in more than one constituency. Mr. Bhosale had defeated Mr. Chavan in the Karad South seat during the November 2024 election. 

“The Congress has been completely exposed. Our MLA has shown how they [Congress] themselves indulged in vote chori [theft]. Now it is up to Rahul Gandhi to explain these revelations,” Mr. Fadnavis said. 

The remarks come in response to Mr. Gandhi’s earlier allegations of “vote chori”, where he accused the Election Commission of working in favour of the BJP. Mr. Gandhi had cited figures from the 2024 Lok Sabha election, claiming that more than one lakh votes were “stolen” in the Mahadevapura Assembly segment under the Bangalore Central constituency.

Supporting Mr. Gandhi’s accusations, a new report released on August 16, by the Vote for Democracy (VFD), a civic action group led by election experts, had flagged serious anomalies in the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly election.  

The report, titled Dysfunctional ECI and Weaponisation of India’s Election System, had alleged vulnerabilities in microchips, VVPATs, Symbol Loading Units (SLUs), and electoral rolls, warning that India’s electronic voting process is “no longer standalone” and had become susceptible to manipulation since 2017. 

The VFD also revealed a sudden surge in voter turnout during the November 2024 election. At 5 p.m., turnout stood at 58.22%, but by midnight, it had jumped to 66.05% — a spike of 7.83%, amounting to nearly 48 lakh additional votes, it said. Unusually high jumps were recorded in Nanded, Jalgaon, Hingoli, Solapur, Beed, and Dhule, it added. 

The group noted that 25 seats were decided by fewer than 3,000 votes and 69 seats by under 10,000, suggesting that even minor irregularities could have significantly influenced results.