The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), which is smarting at the humiliating rout they faced in the high-stakes Maharashtra assembly elections, is planning to launch a nationwide protest against EVMs (electronic voting machines).
The MVA alliance, consisting of the Congress, Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena faction and Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), blame EVMs for their defeat in the elections. There are also plans to move the court to return to ballot papers, which is used in America and other nations during elections.
Also read: Maharashtra assembly polls: Mahayuti set for landslide win; MVA cries foul
Credibility of EVMs
Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar met the defeated MVA candidates and decided to form legal teams to tackle the issue of the credibility of EVMs.
The MVA won just 49 seats; the Thackeray Sena winning 20, the Congress 16, and Sharad Pawar’s NCP group mopping up just 10 seats. While the Mahayuti, comprising BJP, Ajit Pawar’s NCP faction and Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena, scripted a historic victory, cruising home with 235 of the 288 Assembly seats in the state.
The BJP won handsomely with 132 – its best-ever score in a Maharashtra election – and is expected to lead the next government.
Also read: Mahayuti ‘tsunam’ might leave Maharashtra assembly without LoP
VVPAT cross-check
Meanwhile, Sharad Pawar, who is fuming against his worst-ever electoral performance, having contested 86 seats and winning just 10, asked his losing candidates to request an analysis of the VVPAT, or Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail, to confirm the voting numbers.
Senior NCP leaders, including his grand-nephew Rohit Pawar, have alleged fraud while vote-counting was on.
Return to ballot papers
Congress too is upset having contested in 101 seats and winning just 16, which led Congress boss Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday to demand a return to ballot papers system.
Nana Patole, the former president of the Congress’ state unit, who quit after the disastrous performance in the elections, slammed EVMs, insisting that claims of EVM tampering are not being taken seriously.
After the Congress’ dismal performance in the Haryana election as well, Congress refused to accept the verdict. The BJP had won despite conceding a large early lead. The Congress insisted the EVMs had been hacked and raised a hue and cry over the alleged delays in publishing voting data.
Row over EVMs
The row over EVMs surfaces after every major election, with the Opposition pointing fingers at the BJP accusing them engineering victories by hacking the machines. The BJP has dismissed these claims.
Critics of EVMs also quote American billionaire Elon Musk, who has often claimed that voting machines are ‘too easy to hack’.
The allegations of manipulation of EVMs come in the backdrop of the Supreme Court on November 26 dismissing a petitioner’s plea to returnto ballot papers. “What happens is, when you win the election, EVMs (electronic voting machine) are not tampered. When you lose the election, EVMs are tampered (with),” remarked a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and P B Varale.
This reasoning is what the BJP often uses to counter the allegations of faulty EVMs made by the Opposition.
BJP strongman Devendra Fadnavis, who is tipped to become Maharashtra’s new chief minister asked, “JMM (and Congress) won in Jharkhand….The election there was ‘fair’… but if we get a huge victory in Maharashtra, then the Election Commission is ‘biased’ and EVMs were ‘hacked’?”
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