'Kuch toh gadbad hai': Sanjay Raut rejects Mahayuti win in early trends

Maharashtra Assembly elections results: The BJP-led Mahayuti alliance leads in polls, with MVA trailing. Opposition leaders, including Sanjay Raut, question the legitimacy of early trends and results

In the Maharashtra Assembly elections, the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance is leading in 221 of the 288 Assembly seats, according to the latest Election Commission data. The opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) is trailing, with its candidates ahead in only 47 seats, as shown by early trends. 

 

As the counting of votes began on Saturday morning, Sanjay Raut, a prominent leader from Shiv Sena (UBT), raised concerns over the emerging trends in Maharashtra’s election results, claiming “they [Mahayuti alliance] have done gadbad to steal Maha Vikas Aghadi seats (kuch toh gadbad hai)”. He questioned the legitimacy of the results, suggesting that these could not reflect the true will of the people of Maharashtra, adding that “something is fishy”.

 

Maharashtra elections: “Some mischief in voting’, says Raut

Expressing concerns over the early poll result trends, Raut questioned how MVA could fail to secure even 75 to 100 seats, stating, “How can Eknath Shinde get 56 seats?” He further alleged, “I don’t believe this is the impact of ‘Ladki Bahin’ scheme at all. I am saying this again — there is some mischief, and some big things have occurred.”

 

Taking aim at Shinde’s ‘Ladli Behna’ scheme, Raut accused the BJP of benefiting from industrialist Gautam Adani’s influence, saying, “Adani is Ladli bhai of BJP. Mahayuti won with Adani’s help. They have brought out these results to assist an industrialist against whom we were raising our voice.”

 

Raut further said, “This is not the result of the people’s mandate. Under any circumstances, Eknath Shinde could not have gone beyond 20 seats. We had ground reports that the BJP would possibly be the lead party with around 65 seats, and that was it. We cannot accept this outcome.”

Maharashtra election results: Mahayuti manipulating results, says Raut

He further accused the ruling alliance of manipulating the election results, alleging that “they have done some ‘gadbad’, they have stolen some of our seats”. He added that the people of Maharashtra would not accept the results, adding, “We have faith in the people of Maharashtra.”

 

Raut also pointed to the involvement of money in influencing the election results, stating, “No doubt in my mind that money has been used massively. How can all of Eknath Shinde’s MLAs get elected when there was so much anger against Ajit Pawar's MLAs?”

 

Additionally, Raut criticised Ajit Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), questioning how his party could secure more than 40 seats and accusing the BJP of manipulating the election process.  “What did they do that they are getting more than 120 seats?” Raut asked.

 

As the counting continued, the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance had surpassed the halfway mark, leading in 221 seats, while the MVA alliance was trailing with 52 seats according to the Election Commission’s 11 am update.