During his visit to Markadwadi village in western Maharashtra’s Solapur district which created history last week by attempting unsuccessfully to hold a “mock ballot paper poll", NCP (SP) President Sharad Pawar on Sunday gave a fervent call for dumping the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and reverting to the ballot paper-based electoral system.
nteracting with the villagers of Markadwadi in Solapur district, Pawar exhorted the Gram Sabha of not just that particular village but the Gram Sabhas of all villages in Malshiras taluka to pass resolutions opposing the conduct of elections through EVMs and making a strong case for reverting to the system of ballot papers. This, he said, was essential because the people had lost faith in the EVMs.
“Based on such resolutions, we will take up the matter with the Election authorities in Maharashtra, the chief minister, the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the Prime Minister of the country. We will also raise the issue in the ongoing winter session of Parliament,” Pawar said.
Alluding to an unsuccessful attempt made by the villagers to hold a “mock ballot paper poll" on December 3 in the wake of shocking results in the recent State Assembly polls, Pawar said: “There is something wrong with the EVMs. There are strong doubts in the minds of the people about the authenticity of the polls held through EVMs. Since you people have created awareness among us, the only thing that can be done is to bring about a change in the electoral system that is adopted in the country now and revert to the use of ballot papers to hold the elections”.
Taking a strong exception to the manner in which the police prevented the villagers from holding the “mock ballot paper poll" on December 3, Pawar said: “I was surprised to learn about things that happened in your village. Whatever you people did was not official. The people of your village sat down and decided to go in for re-voting and you decided to vote once again in a different way. But, why did the police prevent you from holding such an unofficial poll? What does the law say?”
“From what happened in the recent Assembly elections, there are serious doubts about the electoral process involving EVMs in the minds of the voters. The doubts have to be removed. In advanced countries like the USA and UK, votes are cast through ballot papers. Not all countries in Europe conduct elections through EBMs like we do,” the NCP (SP) chief said.
Referring to chief minister Devendra Fadnavis’ objection to his visiting Markadwadi village to interact with the local people on EVMs, Pawar said: “The chief minister advised me against visiting your village. What wrong have I done? Is it wrong to visit your village? Is it wrong to take care to know about the doubts that you people have (about EVMs) and try to bring about necessary change? After all, what is democracy for? What are people's rights?”
Maintaining that “politics should not be brought into this”, Pawar said: “I would like to tell the chief minister, we do not want to bring politics into this. We will provide all the information to the government, the Centre and ECI. If possible, the chief minister can himself visit the village and listen to what people say and work towards making necessary course corrections”
Pawar said that on behalf of the people of Markadwadi village, he and his party would raise the EVMs issue in Parliament and seek reforms in the current electoral process.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule came down strongly against Pawar for visiting Markadwadi village and for allegedly spreading lies and deceiving the people of Maharashtra
“Sharad Pawar should accept defeat. He suffered a great loss in these elections. The kind of lies they said in the Lok Sabha elections were all rejected by the people. Pawar Sahab has gone to Markadwadi. It doesn't behove a person of his age to mouth lies,” Bawankule said.
"The people of Maharashtra respect Pawar sahab. Several elections have been held in Markadwadi. Several elections have been held through EVMs in Maharashtra.
But at no point in time in the past the Opposition had rejected the poll outcome as it is doing now. The Opposition leaders did not say anything about the EVMs when it won 31 seats in Lok Sabha polls,.” Bawankule said, adding that the NCP (SP) chief was doing all this to create an excuse as the MVA was all set to lose the upcoming local body elections in the state.