'Aaditya shouldn't try to become Maharashtra's Pappu': Fadnavis reacts to Worli seat vote chori row

'I know Aaditya and didn't expect him to do 'pappugiri'. His presentation yesterday was a replica of what (Congress MP) Rahul Gandhi has done earlier'

Mumbai: Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday mocked Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray for his presentation on the alleged voter roll discrepancies in his assembly segment, saying he should not try to become ''Maharashtra's Pappu".

“I know Aaditya...however, I didn't expect him to do 'Pappugiri'. His presentation yesterday was a replica of what (Congress MP) Rahul Gandhi had done earlier. He (Aaditya) shouldn't try to become Maharashtra's Pappu. All that the Opposition is doing is cover firing," Fadnavis said, adding: “The position of Aaditya is the replica of what Rahul Gandhi did….khoda pahad, nikla chuha”.

"They know defeat is imminent and people are not with them. Their conduct is a mockery of democracy,'' the CM told reporters after the weekly cabinet meeting.

Ahead of the local body polls in the state, Thackeray on Monday alleged discrepancies in the voters' list in his Worli assembly constituency in Mumbai, including a mismatch in names, photographs, addresses and even the gender.

"This is not an error but fraud," the Sena (UBT) MLA alleged while addressing his party workers here.

The "battle will begin" when parties get the draft electoral rolls, he said while urging party workers to thoroughly study the voters' list in each ward ahead of the election to the high-stakes Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

The local body polls in the state are to be completed by January 2026.

The charges of Aaditya, a former minister, comes ahead of the November 1 march-cum-rally in Mumbai by the opposition parties including Congress, Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP), Shiv Sena (UBT), Raj Thackeray-led MNS, CPI, CPI (M), PWP among others.

Aaditya made the allegations on Monday and Tuesday, during which he claimed to have found 19,333 voter anomalies in the post-election study.

Making a power-point presentation, Aaditya said that the opposition parties had been saying constantly that elections in India haven’t been held in a free and fair way by the Election Commission of India.