Opposition Blames EVMs, EC for Their Defeat

 Mumbai: Following the drubbing in the last year’s Vidhan Sabha elections, all three constituent parties of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance have also suffered humiliating defeat in the municipal council and nagar panchayat elections in Maharashtra. The opposition have blamed EVMs for their humiliating defeat in the local body elections.

In the majority of the municipal councils in the state, the Mahayuti parties – BJP, Shiv Sena (Shinde) and NCP (Ajit Pawar) – have succeeded, whereas Vidarbha has again given a helping hand to the Congress. Compared to these parties, the Shiv Sena UBT and the NCP (SP) in the MVA alliance did not conduct these elections with much prestige. Both parties have fallen behind considerably.

Maharashtra Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal alleged that the ruling parties won due to Election Commission’s ‘blessing’ and the verdict does not reflect people’s mandate.

“The Election Commission has become a puppet in the hands of the ruling party. The chaotic functioning of the EC and the ruling parties’ rampant use of money were witnessed in this election. Due to all this, the Congress party did not achieve the expected success,” Sapkal said.

“The public is extremely unhappy with the work of the BJP-led Mahayuti government. Corruption is rampant, and public works are not being done. In such a situation, the results that have come do not seem to reflect the people’s mandate. Democracy and the constitution were openly trampled upon through intimidation,” he added.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut attributed the victory of the Mahayuti to tampering of Electronic Voting Machines and said there was a ‘hailstorm’ of money which the Opposition could not withstand.

“If you see Vidhan Sabha numbers of the BJP, Shiv Sena and the NCP and now in the civic body polls, they are the same. The machines (fixed) that were used during Vidhan Sabha are the same. Setting (of the machines) is the same and (the way) money used (during the polls) is also the same,” he said.

“The BJP has set the machines in the same way as it happened in the assembly polls. They should have at least changed the number of seats they won,” Raut added.