Legal notice claims Narayan Rane engaging in cash for votes  

Shiv Sena (UBT) Lok Sabha General Elections 2024 candidate Vinayak Bhaurao Raut from Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg constituency has filed a legal notice to the Election Commission of India (ECI) against Bharatiya Janta Party’s candidate Narayan Rane accusing him of manipulating votes, engaging in unfair and corrupt electoral practices by distributing cash for vote during the election campaign.   

Representing Mr. Raut, Advocate Asim Suhas Sarode told The Hindu, “On June 6, Narayan Tatu Rane emerged as the winner with 4,48,514 votes whereas, my client, Mr. Raut got 4,00,656 votes. We have video evidence in which the BJP partymen were campaigning on May 6 even though the campaigning was barred on May 5 by 5pm. On May 15, Mr. Raut and his partymen learnt that Mr. Rane, his son Nitesh Rane and their party workers were pressurizing voters, luring them by distributing cash for votes and threatening them with dire consequences if they lost the election. We have enough evidence along with video clips to prove our case in the court of law.”  

In one of the videos, BJP party worker is seen showing the voters EVM Machine and asking them to press the lotus (BJP’s party symbol) symbol only, Mr. Sarode claimed. “One of the videos shows a party worker telling a family that since they have five voters in their family, Narayan Rane has sent money for them, but make sure Rane saheb is elected,” Mr. Sarode said.   

The legal notice mentions that such a practice of intimidation is a serious contempt of various directions, guidelines and judgements given by the Supreme Court that clearly says that such corrupt practices destroy the legal expectation of free and fair elections. “We have filed a legal complaint to the concerned authorities at ECI highlighting the practices Mr. Rane, his son and their party workers have been engaged in and that they totally breached the Model Code of Conduct. As per law, 48 hours before the voting, no party is allowed to engage in campaigning of any kind, it is called the silence period before the voting day. Section 123 of the Representation of People’s Act, 1951 clearly says that giving cash for votes is bribe. It is unfortunate that the ECI has failed to take cognizance of the complaint filed on May 16 against Mr. Rane’s unlawful electoral practice and this is why we filed it again on June 15,” Mr. Sarode said.