Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, who is in Maharashtra to rally for Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) candidates, urged the voters to defeat those who he alleged had accepted substantial bribes to change allegiance, referring to them as “50 khoke”. The Congress chief was speaking at a rally in Vasai on Monday. 

The term “50 khoke” (cash boxes) was used after CM Eknath Shinde defected from the undivided Shiv Sena to form a government with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2022.