'Surgical strike': Aaditya Thackeray hints at Rahul Gandhi-style presser on Maharashtra voter fraud; says 'working on data'

NEW DELHI: Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray on Thursday hinted at a major expose regarding alleged irregularities in the 2024 Maharashtra assembly election electoral rolls.

Thackeray likened the upcoming revelations to the Indian Army’s 2016 surgical strikes in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, suggesting the expose would be equally explosive.



However, he refused to reveal the timing of the disclosure. “Let me not leak it. We cannot let out the timings of the surgical strike. Our party has found many chinks in the armour and it will bring them out very soon,” he said at the India Today Conclave in Mumbai, news agency PTI reported.

“Just before the assembly polls, the party had written to the Election Commission of India (ECI) about the sudden spike in the number of voters, missing names of voters, and mismanagement at the booth. We will have a press conference with the data we are working on right now. We are putting it together,” he added.

When asked if he would hold press conferences similar to those conducted by Congress MP and Shiv Sena (UBT) ally Rahul Gandhi, the Worli MLA replied in the affirmative. Gandhi has addressed two press conferences—on August 7 and September 18—labelling the first one an “atom bomb” and teasing a future “hydrogen bomb,” alleging “vote chori” (vote theft) by the ECI to benefit the ruling BJP. Both focused on assembly seats in Congress-ruled Karnataka.

The ECI dismissed Gandhi’s allegations as “incorrect and baseless,” asking him to sign a sworn affidavit. He has refused, stating he has already taken an oath on the Constitution of India.

The Maharashtra assembly polls, held in November 2024, saw the BJP-led Mahayuti sweep the state to retain power, while the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi, comprising the Congress, Shiv Sena, and NCP (SP), was routed. The result was the opposite of the Lok Sabha elections held just months earlier, fuelling opposition suspicions.

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