Sangli: The bogus-votes row in the graduate and teachers' constituencies is back in focus. "If 10,000 votes are being scrapped, then who gave these graduates and teachers their degrees? That will have to be probed," chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said in Sangli.
He was speaking at a meeting held to back the Mahayuti candidates. With the question of invalid voters dominating the campaign, Fadnavis turned it toward the institutions that issue degrees. His line: the administration must keep a hard eye on flaws in the electoral rolls.
At the same meeting he ran through the state's investment numbers. Maharashtra leads the country in industry, he claimed. Investment agreements worth ₹30 lakh crore were signed in the state over the past year, and the state stands first in foreign investment too, he said. Creating jobs for young people through new industries is the government's priority, he added.
In the Pune teachers' constituency, the BJP-Mahayuti has fielded Kaustubh Gavade, and Smita Jadhav in the graduates' seat. The Maha Vikas Aghadi has given the teachers' seat to sitting MLA Jayant Asgavkar and the graduates' seat to Harshada Jadhav-Deshmukh. Independents Dattatray Sawant and Sachin Sanap are also campaigning hard in the teachers' seat.
With the scrutiny of voters' lists and the bogus-vote issue heating up politics, Fadnavis's jibe has made the graduate-teachers' contest sharper still.