No, Kangana Ranaut Wasn’t Forced to Vote For Shiv Sena in Polls

Between 2009 & 2019, Shiv Sena and BJP were in an alliance in all LS and Assembly polls with the exception of 2014.

(Photo: The Quint)

Video Editor: Sandeep Suman

Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut has been hogging the limelight, ever since her spat with Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut snowballed into a massive fight.

In her latest allegation, Ranaut, on a Times Now bulletin with the senior journalist and Group Editor Navika Kumar, claimed that she was “forced” to vote for Shiv Sena, even though she supports the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), because of their alliance.

However, Ranaut’s claims don’t add up. In most of the elections between 2009 to 2019, Shiv Sena and BJP were in an alliance with the only exception of 2014 Assembly elections.

WHAT DID RANAUT SAY?

While speaking to Kumar, Ranaut said that though she doesn't understand politics much, she can speak from her own experience about how she was “forced” to vote for the Shiv Sent during the elections, though she doesn’t specify which elections she was referring to.

An archived version of the tweet can be found here.(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)

Soon after, India Today Deputy Editor, Kamlesh Sutar, took to Twitter to debunk Ranaut’s claims, following which the latter threatened him with legal consequences.

He pointed out that Ranaut’s Assembly constituency is Bandra West (Vandre West) and that, both in 2019 and 2014, it had a BJP candidate.

In a series of now deleted tweets, Ranaut hit back and said that she was referring to the Lok Sabha elections and not the Assembly elections. However, this claim too doesn’t add up.

Further, Mumbai Press Club has taken cognisance of Ranaut’s threat and condemned her actions.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

We accessed Ranaut’s voter information, available on the Election Commission’s website, and found out that her Parliamentary constituency is Mumbai North-Central and her Assembly Constituency is Vandre West.

(Source: Election Commission)

We then checked the details of the 2009, 2014 and 2019 Assembly and Lok Sabha elections, to see if her claims add up.

2019 LOK SABHA ELECTIONS

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP and Shiv Sena were in an alliance and the candidate who was fielded from Ranaut’s constituency was Poonam Mahajan (BJP), who won the polls.

(Source: Election Commission)

2014 LOK SABHA ELECTIONS

In 2014, too, the two parties were in an alliance and fielded Mahajan (BJP) as candidate, who won the elections.

(Source: Election Commission)

2009 LOK SABHA ELECTIONS

In 2009, there was no Shiv Sena candidate either. The two parties contested the elections in an alliance.

(Source: Election Commission)

Now, let's take a look at the Assembly election results:

2019 ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS

In the 2019 Assembly elections, the two parties again contested together. And the fielded candidate was again from BJP, who won the polls.

(Source: Election Commission)

2014 ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS

The two parties didn't contest the elections together. Shiv Sena’s fielded candidate was Vilas Chawri, who lost the polls to BJP’s Ashish Shelar.

(Source: Election Commission)

2009 ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS

Again, in 2009, the two parties were in a seat sharing agreement and no Shiv Sena candidate was fielded. It was Congress’ Ziauddin Siddique who had won the polls.

(Source: Election Commission)

Clearly, Ranaut’s claims don’t really add up, because in the last three elections, there has been no Shiv Sena candidate from her constituency, with only one exception in 2014.

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