Sena (UBT) to approach SC over allegations of corruption, election fraud
On Tuesday, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said,'Our Women and Child Welfare Minister has clearly stated that there are 26 lakh accounts which do not fit in the criteria of Ladki Bahin Yojana. There are men and even those who are taking advantage of other schemes. All these accounts have not been suspended. All these accounts will be verified. If these accounts are confirmed to be ineligible, then we will cancel them,' the Chief Minister said on Tuesday after the cabinet meeting.
Last week, Minister for Women and Child Welfare Aditi Tatkare said,'We have temporarily suspended accounts of 26.34 lakh beneficiaries from June 2025. The eligibility of the suspended beneficiaries will be verified by officials of the respective district collectorates.'
Reacting to the state government's admission of 26.34 lakh ineligible accounts, Sanjay Raut, spokesperson for the Shiv Sena (UBT) said, 'This is nothing but a big election fraud. The women voters were bribed to vote for the Mahayuti. The entire 2024 election process in Maharashtra should be cancelled. According to the Representative of People Act, 1951, this amounts to a corrupt practice. And therefore the Election Commission of India should not sit quiet when democratic norms have been violated. It should investigate how voters were bribed through Rs 1500 a month benefit. This is like offering them cash for every vote.'
Raut said besides the ECI, the Enforcement Directorate is not moving into action quickly. 'When it comes to opposition leaders and allegations against them, it quickly targets them through raids. In this case, when the government itself has admitted that it paid money to voters before the elections, why is the ED not taking action. It should make those who started the scheme accused in the case,' he said.
Raut said the Sena (UBT) was planning to approach the Supreme Court in this matter. 'Since there is an open admission of election fraud, we are planning to approach the Supreme Court. We are fully hopeful that the SC will take decisive action on our appeal,' he said.
Atul Londhe, chief spokesperson of the Maharashtra Congress said, 'This is election fraud. Now where is the Enforcement Directorate? Why is the Election Commission of India watching as a spectator? Everything is in public domain, the government itself has brought to fore how 26.34 ineligible voters exercised their franchise. It is obvious that the government benefitted through this bribe offering. The question is, will the ED act on this election fraud or continue to shut its eyes and ears?'
AAP spokesperson Mukund Kirdat said, 'Undoubtedly, Maharashtra has seen the biggest election fraud hitherto. The government indiscriminately distributed cash so that the women voters and their family members vote it back to power. The government was jittery as the Lok Sabha election results showed that voters wanted a change of rule in Maharashtra. And therefore it resorted to offering cash benefits to the voters.'
Babu Nair, general secretary of Maharashtra Congress said, ''The Ladki Bahin Yojana was launched just three months before the 2024 elections. In those three months more than 2 crore women were given Rs 4500 cash benefits. It was clear during the election time that the government was indulging in corrupt practice. Yet the Election Commission of India kept quiet.'
Nair said women who were earning over a lakh monthly salary, who owned cars and those who were paying income tax also benefitted under the Ladki Bahin Yojana. 'Because of the Ladki Bahin Yojana, funds availability for welfare of the poor has been affected. The Ministers themselves have admitted this situation.'
Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades.
Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives.
Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees.
During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa.
Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died.
Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More
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Justice must still listen," he stressed. He further said the role of government and the judiciary as catalysts cannot be overstated. "With ongoing digital initiatives such as Digitally Accessible India, the JAM trinity, and the e-Courts Mission Mode Project, the groundwork is being laid for comprehensive justice reform. To fully realise these ambitions, these government-led digital strategies must converge with justice sector reforms. Meanwhile, the judiciary must remain adaptable, continually updating procedures to seamlessly incorporate digital evidence, remote testimony and electronic records, said the Supreme Court judge. He said that through such collaborative synergy, "we can bring the promise of inclusive digital justice closer to reality". This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
