Maharashtra deputy chief minister blamed “vote jihad” for the BJP’s poor show in 14 parliamentary seats in the state in the recently concluded parliamentary polls.
Elaborating on this, Fadnavis said people from a “particular community” cast a united vote to defeat “Hindutvawadi” candidates in at least 14 out of 48 constituencies in Maharashtra. He said “some people” think that they can “bring down Hindutva” by organising themselves.
The deputy CM raised the issue of "vote jihad" during a speech at the Sant Samavesh programme at Kaneri Matt in Kolhapur.“‘Vote jihad’ was seen in 14 of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra. People from a particular community voted unitedly to defeat the Hindutvawadi candidates,” he said, giving the examples of Dhule and Malegaon seats.
According to him, in Dhule, which is near Nashik district, the BJP candidate was leading by 1.90 lakh votes in at least five assembly segments. But, at the same time, the other candidate from Malegaon won by a 4,000-vote margin and got a total of 1.94 lakh votes, he said.
The deputy chief minister also spoke about the purported rise of “love jihad” in the state, and said such cases were rarely heard of 10 years ago. “…when people used to talk about ‘love jihad’, we used to think that it was a single incident, but today it seems that it is a deliberate conspiracy. There are more than one lakh complaints out there. They hide behind marriage, but this is ‘love jihad’…” he said.
“In the Lok Sabha election results, BJP-led Mahayuti’s vote share was 43.6%, while the opposition’s Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) secured 43.9%. While the difference was small, it had a major impact on the number of seats,” he had said.
“The fake narrative of the changing of the Constitution and reservation percolated. We saw a ‘vote jihad’ in Maharashtra. In Dhule Lok Sabha seat, in five of the six assembly seats, we were ahead by 1.9 lakh votes. In Malegaon Madhya, we lost by 1,94,000, a gap of 4,000 votes. There was a revengeful voting. Fear was being put in the minds of the minorities. We undermined it. We did not think they would come together and vote. We have fixed it now. Today the situation on ground is different. Even minorities know that polarisation was done. People are seeing our schemes. In Mumbai, look at the Metro, coastal road or Atal Setu or even in rural areas… The narrative is in our favour,” he added.
In the Lok Sabha election results, BJP-led Mahayuti’s vote share was 43.6%, while the opposition’s Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) secured 43.9%. While the difference was small, it had a major impact on the number of seats.
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