Several Congress leaders have questioned the electoral process while claiming that a village in Maharashtra’s Dhule district, which traditionally votes for the party, has strangely clocked zero votes for the party this time.

Newslaundry found these claims – which have received thousands of retweets – to be false based on booth-wise voter data.

Such tweets were shared by prominent Congress figures such as Mumbai MP Varsha Gaikwad, spokesperson Ragini Nayak, secretary Prithiviraj Sathe, UP Congress social media chief Pankuri Pathak, and Mahila Congress national observer Arti Singh. They were amplified by several others, including Piyush Babele, media advisor to senior Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath.

The village in question is Avdhan, located in the Dhule Rural constituency, where the contest was between Congress leader Kunal Patil and BJP candidate Raghavendra alias Ram Bam Badhane. Contrary to claims by Congress leaders, Patil received 1,057 votes while BJP’s Bhadane secured 1,741 votes in the village. Badhane won with a margin of over 66,300 votes.

Patil clocked 227 votes at booth number 247, 234 votes at booth number 248, 252 votes at booth number 249, and 344 votes at booth number 250. 

Patil also denied claims by his party colleagues. “The information that I received about zero votes despite people voting for Congress is incorrect. However, it is true that I received fewer votes than we had anticipated,” he told Newslaundry.

Varsha Gaikwad and Ragini Nayak did not respond to Newslaundry’s request for comment. This report will be updated if a response is received.

Piyush Babele said, “ I didn’t verify and shared it as many blue tick handles shared it. But I removed it once I was informed that it was fake.”

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