Maharashtra BJP Leader Accused Of Distributing Cash To Voters, He Denies Claim

Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA) members, led by Hitendra Thakur clashed with BJP representatives at Virar East after BVA activists and Nalla Sopara MLA Kshitij Thakur on Tuesday alleged that BJP’s general secretary Vinod Tawde had arrived with Rs 5 crore to distribute to their candidate Rajan Naik.

The BVA members stormed into the hotel room and flung cash at Tawde’s face. Later, police arrived at the scene and escorted him away.

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However, the BJP leader denied all the accusations and said, “I had stopped on my way to discuss about polling process and code of conduct with our candidate”. And he further added that, “I had a brief meeting with the candidate and was about to leave when BVA workers came. They thought I was distributing money. EC personnel came, they checked my vehicle, they did not find anything. Let there be investigation into the allegations they are making.”

The confrontation unfolded at Hotel Vivanta in Virar East, where Tawde had convened a meeting with BJP’s Nalasopara constituency candidate Rajan Naik. The meeting was interrupted by BVA workers, claiming money was being distributed. Though Tawde’s vehicle was searched, no evidence was found.

In the video which has surfaced on social media, the workers were seen taking bundles of cash out of the bag, while Tawde was sitting at a distance. When they proceeded to take pictures and videos of him on the phone, he seemed to be seen indicating that the bag did not belong to him.

Hitendra Thakur also alleged that they had recovered two diaries from Tawde, besides the cash. However, there have been no details of the diaries’ content.

Congress nominees Sandeep Pandey and Vijay Patil representing Nalasopara and Vasai constituencies respectively, have called for police action.

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The Palghar collector Govind Bodke said an FIR would be registered against Tawde for entering Vihar 48 hours before polls as he is not a voter of the area. According to the additional chief electoral officer of Maharashtra, Kiran Kulkarni, ECI rules provide for action against those attempting to induce voters as has been alleged by the BVA. “We have received the complaint of such an incident in Vasai-Virar. The district collector and police commissioner of Vasai Virar are taking necessary action,” he said.