Mumbai: At a press conference at the Mumbai Press Club on Monday afternoon, the Member of Parliament of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Udayanraje Bhosale asked the Election Commission (EC) to bring back the process of voting through ballot papers instead of EVMs.
Bhosale alleged there has been mass tampering of the EVMs nationwide, which led the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to acquire as many as 353 seats in the Lok Sabha election. There has been a mismatch on the number of ‘votes counted’ with the number of ‘votes polled’ in all the 48 constituencies of Maharashtra.
He challenged the EC for a re-election, stating he didn’t need the support of any political party or activist organisation to back his statement, as he is capable enough to speak for himself.
“I assure you, if a re-election is to be conducted by fairer means, then the results will be completely opposite to what it is today,” said Bhosale. Earlier, former union minister and NCP president Sharad Pawar stated he doesn’t blame the machines and he accepts the people’s mandate gracefully.
Bhosale once served as the minister of revenue for Maharashtra during the BJP regime, was re-elected as the MP from Satara for the third consecutive time, this year.
About the authenticity of his winning votes, he stated though opposition parties had anticipated BJP’s win, but nobody had expected such a landslide victory, across the country hence proactive measures should be taken by the EC before the Maharashtra state elections, to be held later this year.
By Pratip Acharya
