Overview
- The NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) leader accused the BJP of systematically inducing defections from Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar’s NCP, predicting more switches before 2029.
- He alleged large-scale electoral malpractice after the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, citing bogus registrations, mass deletions of genuine voters and duplication using Aadhaar details.
- Pawar said 48 lakh voters were added in the six months after the 2024 general election compared with 32 lakh added between 2019 and 2024, calling the surge suspicious.
- Citing examples, he claimed Karjat-Jamkhed saw 14,292 additions, 5,360 deletions and 14,162 duplicate names, and he relayed a Shiv Sena MLA’s allegation of over one lakh bogus voters in Buldhana with no action by local officials.
- During his briefing he registered a spoof entry titled “Donald Tatya Trump” to illustrate the alleged loopholes and claimed BJP functionary Devang Dave had access to Election Commission systems, while urging the EC to release detailed audit data.