Mumbai: The Bharatiya Janata Party has hit out at Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar for raising doubts about the electronic voting machines (EVMs) in an interview with a regional news channel.
Responding to Pawar’s statement, revenue minister and senior BJP leader Chandrakant Patil claimed not a single member of the Pawar family would be elected to the Lok Sabha this time. To which, Pawar responded that people would lose faith in the electoral process if the BJP’s prophecy of adding Baramati to its seat haul came true.
Patil claimed Pawar’s remarks on EVMs showed that the NCP leader has anticipated defeat in the crucial Baramati Lok Sabha constituency, the stronghold of the Pawar clan. Expressing confidence that the BJP would win not just Baramati but also other western Maharashtra constituencies such as Madha, Hatkanangale and Satara, Patil said it was only a question of counting the victory margins now.
“If 200 members of Parliament from the opposition, including the Congress, NCP and their allies, are elected, then there is no EVM tampering. But if the BJP is re-elected, Pawar thinks EVMs have been manipulated. What sort of logic is this?” remarked Patil, who is BJP’s election in-charge for western Maharashtra.
“By pointing a finger at the purported tampering of EVMs, Pawar has already started preparing his excuses as he has sensed that not a single member of his family is going to be elected to the Lok Sabha when the results are declared,” said the BJP minister.
Pawar, in response to a question on what would happen if the BJP’s confident predictions of startling electoral upsets in vital seats like Baramati proved true, had reportedly said that people would lose faith in the electoral process if such were the case. “When persons like Chandrakant Patil, who never contested Assembly or parliamentary polls, claim with such confidence that the BJP will win Baramati and Madha seats, it creates doubts in the minds of people.
They wonder if the EVMs have been manipulated. While I have heard discussions to this effect, I have no authentic information on all this,” he said.”It is unfortunate that several parties are casting aspersions on electoral mechanisms today. The Election Commission must ensure that people do not lose confidence in the electoral process,” Pawar said.
Pawar’s daughter’s and sitting MP from Baramati Supriya Sule is seeking re-election for the third time. She is pitted against Kanchan Kul, the BJP-Sena alliance candidate. Meanwhile, other BJP leaders in the state including Vinod Tawde and Girish Mahajan joined forces in targeting Pawar over his doubts on the electoral process.
