"9.6 million voters are bogus": Sanjay Raut backs Raj Thackeray; calls for November 1 march ahead of BMC elections

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], October 20 (ANI): Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut on Monday expressed support for Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray, who recently alleged that 9.6 million fake voters have been added to the voter list.
Addressing the issue in the press conference held today in Mumbai, Raut clarified the party's position, saying, "We have never said that we will not contest the BMC election. We only said that first, the voter list should be corrected. According to Raj Thackeray, 9.6 million voters are bogus in the list."
Raut further announced a protest action, stating, "On November 1, all Opposition parties will participate in a long march against the bogus voters in the list."
Meanwhile, Raut on Sunday announced plans for a meeting with election officials in Maharashtra, led by party chief Uddhav Thackeray, to address concerns over discrepancies in the voter list.
Raut stated that Thackeray, along with other party leaders, including Raj Thackeray of MNS and Sharad Pawar of NCP-SCP, will meet officials to discuss voter list discrepancies.
"Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, MNS chief Raj Thackeray, Congress leaders, NCP-SCP chief Sharad Pawar will meet the officials and bring to their attention the issue of discrepancy in the voter list in Maharashtra...They do match fixing and then contest elections," Sanjay Raut told reporters.
Raut alleged that electoral irregularities and "match-fixing" occur during elections, emphasising the need for a thorough investigation.
He accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of doing "match fixing" and contesting elections and announced to hold a massive march in Mumbai against the Election Commission of India (ECI) on November 1, which party chief Uddhav Thackeray, MNS president Raj Thackeray and other opposition leaders will join.
"We will have to take to the streets... On November 1, all parties will launch a massive march in Mumbai against the Election Commission... and show Maharashtra's Election Commission... MVA and opposition leaders -- Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray, Raj Thackeray, and all other leaders -- will participate in this march," Sanjay Raut told reporters.
Raut said that Opposition parties, which have been fighting against the ECI over the alleged "vote theft" allegations under the leadership of Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, have also begun in Mumbai.
"Today, we are presenting our stance on behalf of all parties... Almost all members of the MNS are present here today, which is a matter of happiness. The press conference was called urgently to address the issue of the Election Commission scam, which we have been fighting in Delhi under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi, and which is now starting in Maharashtra as well," he added.
Earlier this year, Rahul Gandhi alleged that the Maharashtra assembly election held in November 2024 was "rigged" and claimed that the same would be repeated in the Bihar assembly polls.
Rahul Gandhi claimed that there were fake voters in the Maharashtra Assembly Elections. He alleged that the number of voters added to the list in the five months ahead of the polls was more than the number added in the last five years.
"Maharashtra, we weren't able to tell the logic behind it. In Maharashtra and Haryana, we saw it right in front of our faces. We said publicly and told EC, more voters were added in five months than in five years in Maharashtra. More voters than the entire population of Maharashtra. Huge jump in voter turnout after 5 pm. Our alliance got wiped out while the alliance swept in the Lok Sabha. At the state level, between Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha, one crore voters came in," he alleged. (ANI)