Was offered 160 guaranteed seats before Maharashtra polls: Sharad Pawar's fresh claim amid Rahul Gandhi's "vote theft" charge

Nagpur (Maharashtra) [India], August 9 (ANI): Amid Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi's allegations of fraud by the Election Commission (EC) in voter lists, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)-SCP chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday said two people had approached him ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly elections 2024, claiming they could guarantee 160 out of 288 seats.
Speaking to the media, Pawar said that he arranged a meeting of these people with Rahul Gandhi, but ultimately both of them decided to turn down the offer, saying, "This is not our path."
"I remember that before the Maharashtra Assembly elections were announced, two people came to meet me in Delhi...They told me that out of 288 seats in Maharashtra, we guarantee you 160 seats. I was surprised, to be honest, I had no doubts about the Election Commission," Pawar said here.
"After that, I arranged a meeting with those people and Rahul Gandhi. Whatever they wanted to say, they said in front of Rahul Gandhi. But Rahul Gandhi and I were of the opinion that we should not pay attention to this; this is not our path," he added.
The allegations, raised nine months after the Assembly elections results were announced, come amid Congress MP Rahul Gandhi alleging "vote chori" (vote theft) across the country, with the Election Commission of India (ECI) 'colluding' with the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The Congress leader has also specifically raised concerns over the alleged addition of lakhs of voters in Maharashtra just months before the state polls in 2024, alleging the votes helped the Mahayuti coalition come into power.
At a press conference on August 7, Rahul Gandhi claimed that the 2024 Lok Sabha elections were "choreographed" by the EC to benefit the BJP, which he said appeared "immune to anti-incumbency."
Citing internal analysis, Gandhi said the Congress expected to win 16 seats in Karnataka but ended up with only nine. He said the Congress investigated seven unexpected losses, zeroing in on Mahadevapura, where he alleged vote theft involving 1,00,250 votes.
Reiterating his claims over fraud in Maharashtra polls, the party leader said, "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 that 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."
In response to the allegations, Maharashtra's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) has asked the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha to submit an affidavit and provide specific evidence of alleged inclusion or deletion of electors from the voter rolls.
The Maharashtra Assembly Election 2024 witnessed a decisive victory for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Mahayuti alliance, securing a landslide win with 235 seats. The results marked a significant milestone for the BJP, which emerged as the single-largest party with 132 seats. The Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party also made notable gains, with 57 and 41 seats, respectively.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) suffered a major defeat in Maharashtra. The Shiv Sena (UBT), led by Uddhav Thackeray, secured just 20 seats, Congress won 16, and the NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) managed only 10.
Right after the declaration of results, the MVA had also raised the issue of alleged election malpractice in the state. (ANI)