Maharashtra assembly elections 2024: Bid to include bogus names in the voters' lists in 150 seats to be contested by BJP, says Saamana editorial

Ahead of the Maharashtra assembly elections 2024 the opposition Shiv Sena UBT on Monday alleged there were attempts to include bogus names in the voters lists across 150 assembly constituencies which it claimed the BJP was planning to contest reported news agency PTIAn editorial in Saamana the mouthpiece of the Sena UBT led by former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray also claimed such tampering was being resorted to as the BJP fears a defeat in the state polls reported PTIThe Maharashtra Assembly elections 2024 to the 288member assembly are scheduled for November 20 and vote counting will be held on November 23The Shiv Sena UBT is a constituent of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi MVA along with the Congress and Sharad Pawarled NCP SPThe BJP has resorted to such unethical measures to tamper with the electoral roll due to the fear of losing the state There are some 150 assembly constituencies that the BJP is planning to contest in this election The party has scrutinised the voting patterns in the past and identified some 10000 voters names for deletion The party is replacing those names with bogus ones the Saamana editorial alleged reported PTIThe administration has foiled an attempt to insert such 6853 bogus names in the voters list in the Rajura assembly segment of Chandrapur district it saidThis has revealed the BJPs plans to tamper with the electoral rolls The party workers are using Aadhaar card numbers of people who reside in Madhya Pradesh or Chhattisgarh to include their names in Maharashtra the Marathi daily claimed reported PTINotably Congress MLA Subhash Dhote clinched the Rajura assembly seat in the 2019 assembly electionThe BJP has employed several people to carry out this tampering of electoral rolls in selected assembly segments A special training session was also organised by the BJP the editorial alleged reported PTIThe BJP does not have the courage for a fair contest with the Shiv Sena UBT hence it has conspired to win the election through such means it saidThe Election Commission is acting like deaf mute and blind and the only work left with its officials is to follow orders of BJP leaders the editorial charged and claimed that EC officials have separate rules for separate states reported PTIThe MVA constituents mainly the Congress and Shiv Sena UBT have demanded the removal of Maharashtra Director General of Police Rashmi Shukla before the pollsThe Congress has claimed the top IPS officer has been involved in the illegal tapping of opposition leaders phones misleading competent authorities in the processThe Sena UBT mouthpiece said We requested the EC officials to transfer Shukla as she would not be a fair official during such elections The EC refused our demand saying it does not have the power to take such action However the same EC transferred Jharkhand state DGP when the opposition party BJP demanded Is there a separate set of rules for Maharashtra and Jharkhand reported PTIThe Election Commission on Saturday directed the Jharkhand government to remove Acting Director General of Police DGP Anurag Gupta from his post with immediate effect due to a history of complaints against him in previous elections as per sourcesThe Jharkhand assembly elections will be held in two phases on November 13 and 20With inputs from PTI