RAJURA ROILED

From voter list anomalies to a ₹61 lakh cash haul, an assembly constituency in Maharashtra has become a national flashpoint

- BY DNYANESH JATHAR/RAJURA

Rajura, an assembly constituency in Maharashtra's far-eastern Chandrapur district, is suddenly in the spotlight after Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi accused the BJP of vote theft in the assembly elections last year. Rajura witnessed a close contest between the Congress's sitting MLA Subhash Dhote and the BJP's Deorao Bhongle. Dhote lost by 3,054 votes—a defeat, he alleges, was caused by the addition of more than 18,000 “bogus votes” between the 2024 Lok Sabha and assembly polls.

THE WEEK had visited Rajura a week before Gandhi spoke to all stakeholders and raised the issue nationally. Dhote said Rajura had 3,13,600 voters during the Lok Sabha polls; but during the assembly elections held five months later, the number jumped to 3,32,131—an increase of around 19,000 voters. After the party found out that more than 1,500 voters were registered in a single day, it put its activists to work. As many as 6,853 of the new voters were found to be suspicious. After the party filed a complaint, the Election Commission struck off all 6,853 names from the list.

“We found out that in Jivati town 135 votes were rejected at booth number 192,” Dhote told THE WEEK. “When our party inquired about these 135 voters, local people could identify only around 15 voters. Then we went to Nandgaon, where nine voters had been added, none of whom was found to be in the village.” BATTLE OVER VOTES

Dhote said similar anomalies were found across villages in the constituency. In Bakhardi, 79 voters were rejected. One of them was Gangadhar Waghmare, a genuine voter. In Rajura city, as many as 3,195 additions were found to be bogus. The number of voters struck off from the voter list was 1,122 in Gadchandur, 662 in Korpana, and 407 in Lakhmapur.