Cabinet minister and state BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule on Wednesday sharply criticised Rahul Gandhi for his allegations of discrepancies in the state voters’ list, claiming that the Congress leader has “gone insane”.
Last week, Gandhi, along with Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Sanjay Raut and NCP (SP)’s Supriya Sule, alleged irregularities in Maharashtra’s voter registration. He pointed out that more voters were added in the five months between the 2024 Lok Sabha and assembly polls than in the five years prior. Gandhi questioned why the voter count (9.7 crore) exceeded the state’s adult population (9.54 crore) in the 2024 assembly election.
Responding to these claims, Bawankule dismissed them. “He is losing power and is worried. He is going insane. Gandhi should be more concerned about whether Congress will survive or not,” he said.
Addressing the 2024 Lok Sabha election, where the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance secured only 17 out of 48 seats while the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) won 31, Bawankule stated, “We lost by merely two lakh votes. BJP received 2.48 crore votes compared to MVA’s 2.50 crore. Rahul Gandhi did not comment on the narrow margin.
He added that the BJP took corrective steps post-election by working on 29 key points to improve its performance. “We fought as one unit, whereas Congress and MVA leaders became complacent, detached from ground realities,” Bawankule explained.
Bawankule highlighted BJP’s strategic approach after the Lok Sabha elections, which helped them increase their vote share from 2.48 crore to 3.17 crore in the assembly polls. In contrast, Congress's vote share fell from 2.50 crore to 2.17 crore, a decrease of 33 lakh votes. “Their vote erosion is not our fault,” he said.
