Raj Thackeray met Sharad Pawar to convey his opp to EVMs

Mumbai: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray met Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar on Sunday to rally support for paper ballot over Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) for the next elections.

The MNS chief requested Mr Pawar to convey his views to the Election Commission (EC) and see that voting starts back on ballot paper. Mr Pawar assured him that he would talk to the EC over the matter. Mr Thackeray was the first political leader who spoke against EVMs after the 2014 assembly elections.

“Mr Raj Thackeray met me and gave me a letter regarding his opinion on EVMs. Many political parties are against EVMs. We will convey the MNS’ opposition to EVMs to the election commission,” said Mr Pawar. He said that many parties were asking for ballot papers. He also said that the views of these parties would be tabled before the EC.

The opposition to EVMs has grown in the last two years. The members of the EC met representatives of seven national and 51 regional parties on Monday in New Delhi. These parties, including all major opposition parties in the country, have registered their opposition to the voting through machines.

 All of these parties have tabled their views before the EC, including a complete Voter Verifiable Paper Trail (VVPT) system. The EC is yet to give its decision on these memorandums.

The MNS chief has been consistently speaking against alleged malfunctioning of EVMs. In many of his public rallies as well as press conferences, Mr Thackeray has levelled allegations regarding tampering of EVMs.  Reaching out to the NCP chief to put forward his views to EC is a part of his campaign against EVMs. On Tuesday, he is likely to meet members of a local organisation, ‘Lokanche Dost’, which is demanding voting on paper ballots.