'Fishy': Sanjay Raut's 'conspiracy' reaction to Mahayuti's strong performance in Maharashtra

Maharashtra election result: As the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance consolidated its lead in the Maharashtra assembly election, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said on Saturday morning that early election trends point to a conspiracy.

"I see a big conspiracy in this," he told reporters as trends showed that the BJP-led alliance was headed towards a big win.

Sanjay Raut said his party wouldn't accept the election result as people's mandate.

"We don't accept this as people's mandate; something is fishy in election results," he said.

"Even people must be wondering how to accept this mandate," he added.

There was no doubt that money was used in the polls, he alleged.

"How can all MLAs of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde win? How can Ajit Pawar, whose betrayal angered Maharashtra, win?" the Rajya Sabha MP asked.

BJP leader Pravin Darekar, meanwhile, slammed Sanjay Raut for the remark.

"Sanjay Raut needs to land his aircraft on the ground...Maharashtra will further progress when there is a BJP government in the state and at the Centre," he said.

Also read: Maharashtra election result: BJP-led Mahayuti crosses majority mark, show early trends

He said Devendra Fadnavis will be chief minister of Maharashtra.

"This is the reason the public has voted for us. I especially thank the Ladli Behenas in the state. The CM will be of BJP; I think Devendra Fadnavis will be the CM," he added.

At 11.15 am, the BJP+ was leading in 222 seats. The Congress-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition was leading in just 56 seats.

Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde and his deputies, Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar, were leading in their respective assembly constituencies after the first round of the counting of votes.

Also read: Wayanad bypoll result: Priyanka Gandhi leading by 1 lakh votes, on course for record win

As per the figures provided by the Election Commission, Shinde was leading by 4,053 votes over his nearest rival from the Kopri-Pachpakhadi assembly seat.

Fadnavis was leading by 2,246 votes from Nagpur South-West and Pawar by 3,759 votes in the Baramati seat.

With inputs from PTI, ANI