NCP preparing for hung verdict
The court had also categorically stated that the votes should be counted of five EVMs along with the VVPAT.
Mumbai: The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) spokesperson Nawab Malik claimed that the hung verdict would be given by the people on Thursday and party chief Sharad Pawar will play a key role of a mediator to consolidate the Opposition parties against the BJP-led NDA.
The exit polls have given a clear mandate to the NDA. The Pawar-led party will win the highest number of seats since its formation, he claimed. The NCP was established in 1999.
The NCP spokesperson said that the Congress-NCP combine would win 22 seats in this election. In 2014, the party had bagged six seats including four in Maharashtra.
He also said that the court had directed that the slip of VVPAT should be counted first and later the votes should be counted from the EVMs so that the suspicion should be removed. The court had also categorically stated that the votes should be counted of five EVMs along with the VVPAT.
On the controversy surrounding Electronic Voting Machines, Malik said it was the responsibility of the Election Commission to create trust about them if doubts were being raised about their functioning. “But more doubts are creeping into people’s minds given the way the EC is acting,” Malik added.
The NCP leader also said that the country would witness the hung House. “We are sure there would be a hung House. The NDA is not going to get a simple majority,” Malik told reporters.
“The NCP has limited power and therefore, the party would not claim on the post of Prime Minister. Pawar has repeatedly maintained he is not claiming the (prime ministerial) post, but he is playing a key role in the formation of an alternative (coalition) government,” he added.
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