MUMBAI: After the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) got the highest number of seats in the Karnataka assembly polls, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday questioned the functioning of the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM), even daring the BJP to contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections with ballot papers instead of Electronic Voting Machines.

“If the Bharatiya Janata Party is so confident, then it should conduct 2019 elections with ballot paper in a free and fair atmosphere. This will shut the mouth of the opposition that raises the issue of EVM tampering every time,” Mr Thackeray told reporters at Sena Bhavan. On the day of Karnataka assembly election results, Mr Thackeray called an urgent meeting of Shiv Sena leaders to discuss the Lok Sabha bypolls in Palghar. They are contesting against the BJP in the bypolls.

The Sena chief congratulated the BJP winners in the assembly elections, however, did not forget to take a dig at ally BJP. “BJP loses all bypolls and wins main polls,” it said. He did not forget to criticise the ally and said that the BJP perhaps win more states but the people from the BJP ruled states may face disillusionment with the party.

On the issue of Marathi speaking people in Maharashtra-Karnataka border area, Mr Thackeray said that the newly elected government would do justice to them. The Sena has been supporting Marathi population in border area and has been demanding to include the Marathi speaking areas from Karnataka to Maharashtra for years.