Mumbai: Maharashtra Congress on Wednesday announced that it will hold a signature campaign in the state for conducting elections on ballot paper by replacing the EVM. All the applications for using ballot paper will be submitted to the Prime Minister of India, President of India, Chief Justice of India and Chief Election Commissioner, Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole said. The Shiv Sena (UBT) is also considering supporting the Congress’s exercise. MVA (Maha Vikas Aghadi) — an alliance of Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP) — was decimated in the Maharashtra Assembly election, following which the alliance has raised questions over the EVMs.
The state Congress held a meeting of the newly elected Congress MLAs at the party office ‘Tilak Bhavan’ in Mumbai. The meeting was attended by MLAs and party state unit chief Nana Patole, former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, Congress Working Committee (CWC) member Balasaheb Thorat, CWC member and state working president Arif Naseem Khan among others.
Mr. Patole said that the results of the Assembly elections have left the people wondering. “There is a sense of feeling among every section that something is fishy in the result. The Constitution grants everyone the right to vote, but the people think that their votes did not go to candidates they voted for. To honour public sentiment, the Congress party will launch a statewide signature campaign demanding elections through ballot paper. These petitions will be sent to the President, Prime Minister, Chief Justice of India, and the Election Commission,” he said.
The Congress party has also asked its candidates to seek verification of the EVM-Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) units in their respective constituencies. Mr. Khan also met Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray regarding the irregularities in the functioning of the EVMs.
Mr. Khan, who was a candidate from Chandivali Assembly seat, said that he has applied for the verification of EVM and VVPAT. “The party has asked all the defeated candidates to make an application for the verification of the EVMs and VVPAT,” he said.
“A written request for this has to be made by candidates who are in the second or third position behind the highest polled candidate. Such a request has to be made within seven days of declaration of the result. A candidate making the request will have to pay the expenses of Rs 41,000 which will be refunded in case the machine is found to be tampered with,” Mr. Khan added.
Mr Patole also said that the meeting unanimously passed a resolution authorising Congress National President Mallikarjun Kharge to appoint the leader of the Legislative Party, group leader, and whip. This proposal was presented by Mr. Patole and seconded by Vijay Wadettiwar, with support from Dr. Nitin Raut and Amit Deshmukh.
Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP) also raised separate meetings where their defeated candidates blamed EVM for their loss. A Shiv Sena (UBT) leader said that they are still discussing the issue of the EVMs complaints. “We may participate in the Congress’s signature campaign for ballot paper instead of starting our campaign but we have not finalized anything so far,” he said.
The poll verdict last week saw the Mahayuti coalition, comprising the Shiv Sena, BJP, and NCP, retaining power with a massive mandate, pushing the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) to margins. The Mahayuti won 230 seats and MVA only 46 in the 288-member House. The Thackeray-led Sena (UBT) emerged as the largest party in the opposition camp by winning 20 seats, followed by Congress which bagged 16 constituencies, while the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) sits at the bottom with a tally of 10 seats.