Sena's Sanjay Raut threatened voters in Rajya Sabha elections, alleges BJP leader Kirit Somaiya

In a letter to the Election Commission, BJP leader Sanjay Raut has demanded stern action against Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut over alleged corrupt practices in the Rajya Sabha polls. He urged the poll panel to cancel Raut's election to the upper house.

Bharatiya Janata Party leader Kirit Somaiya on Monday filed a complaint with the Election Commission, alleging corrupt practices by Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut in the recently held Rajya Sabha elections in Maharashtra.

BJP leader Kirit Somaiya and Sanjay Raut. 

In a letter written to the poll panel which he tweeted later, Somaiya alleged that Raut threatened the MLA voters in the Rajya Sabha polls through his statements 48 hours after the results were declared.

“Mr Raut stated that several MLAs, voters who had actually promised committed to vote for him and Shiv Sena in recently held Rajya Sabha elections have not voted to them. Mr Raut has also gone on record that he knows who have not voted for them,” the BJP leader alleged.

“He also made various statements threatening MLAs that they will face severe action, that they will have to face ‘Gundagiri' of Shiv Sena,” Somaiya added, demanding that not only action be taken against the Sena MP, but that his election to Rajya Sabha should also be cancelled.

In another development, Shiv Sena MLA Suhas Kande moved the Bombay high court against the Election Commission decision which declared his vote cast inn the Rajya Sabha polls as invalid, after the BJP alleged that he violated the voting process, PTI reported.

In his plea, Kande claimed that he had gone to the electoral hall (at the Vidhan Bhawan in Mumbai), exercised his right to vote, made the necessary endorsement on the ballot paper and as per rules, came out and showed the ballot paper to Shiv Sena leader Sunil Prabhu, who had issued a whip for the polls.

"It is alleged by MLA Yogesh Sagar that the petitioner had shown his ballot paper to the whip of another political party. This is not true and the petitioner had shown his ballot paper to only Sunil Prabhu and not to any other political party,” the petition said.

In the Rajya Sabha polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi won three seats each in Maharashtra. Union minister Piyush Goyal, Anil Bonde and Dhananjay Mahadik were the victorious BJP candidates. From the Aghadi alliance, Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut, Congress leader Imran Pratapgarhi and NCP's Praful Patel were elected to the Rajya Sabha.