In an interview to news channel Times Now, actor Kangana Ranaut claimed that she was forced to vote for the Shiv Sena in the elections as they were in alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The claim is false. The BJP has fielded candidates in Ranaut's constituency for the past two Lok Sabha and two Vidhan Sabha elections.
In her interview with Times Now's Political editor Navika Kumar, Ranaut said that she had to vote for the Shiv Sena over the BJP because the two parties were in a coalition and her constituency had been allotted to the Shiv Sena.
When the discrepancies in her claim were pointed out, Ranaut doubled down and denied the claim stating that she remembers asking her staff and family to vote for the Shiv Sena.Ranaut threatened legal action against India Today journalist Kamlesh Sutar after he pointed out that Ranaut votes at Khar's BPM school which falls under Bandra West assembly constituency and the Mumbai North Central Legislative Constituency which had seen the BJP field its candidate.
Ranaut countered saying that she was talking about the Lok Sabha elections and not the Vidhan Sabha elections. Sutar stated that her area falls under the Mumbai North Central constituency which once again saw the BJP field its candidate in the 2014 and 2019 elections.
Ranaut has since deleted her tweets.
The archive of the tweets can be accessed here.
The clip from her interview has been shared by Times Now on Twitter. The archive of the tweet can be accessed here.
In the clip, Ranaut says, "I am telling you from my experience. When I went to vote in Bandra, and when I was standing in front of the voting machine, because I am such a BJP supporter, I was asking where the button for BJP is? And they were like 'press Shiv Sena'. I said 'why should I press Shiv Sena? if I want to vote for BJP?' I don't understand politics. I am naive. I don't know why these groupisms happen but I was forced to put my hand on the Shiv Sena button because there was no option of BJP. Their alliance for those areas, was only and only Shiv Sena. So I voted for them.
The clip can also be watched from 31:33 minute mark the on their video on YouTube.
Fact Check
BOOM searched for Ranaut's voter information on the Election Commission's voter information portal. We found that Ranaut's Assembly Constituency is Vandre West (Bandra West) and her Parliamentary Constituency is Mumbai North-Central. The Election Commission also noted that Ranaut's polling station is BPM High School.
BOOM accessed the Election Commission of India's election reports of the 2009 Lok Sabha and Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha elections, 2014 Lok Sabha and Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha elections and the 2019 Lok Sabha and Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha elections.
In 2009, Congress' Priya Dutt beat the BJP's Mahesh Jethmalani to win the Mumbai North Central constituency. The Shiv Sena did not field any candidates.
2009 Lok Sabha Results for Mumbai North Central constituency
In the 2014 Lok Sabha Elections, in Ranaut's Mumbai North Central constituency, the BJP had fielded Poonam Mahajan who won the election and was re-elected from the same constituency in 2019.
2014 Lok Sabha Results for Mumbai North Central constituency
2019 Lok Sabha Results for Mumbai North Central constituency
In the 2009 Vidhan Sabha election, the BJP's Ashish Shelar lost to the Congress' Baba Siddique from the the Bandra West constituency. The Shiv Sena did not field any candidate.
In the 2014 Vidhan Sabha election, the BJP's Ashish Shelar won the Bandra West constituency beating the Congress' Baba Siddique and the Shiv Sena's Vilas Chawri. Shelar defended his seat in the 2019 elections where the Sena did not field any candidate.
2014 Vidhan Sabha Results for Bandra West constituency
2019 Vidhan Sabha Results for Bandra West constituency