Responding to the demand of Markadwadi villagers to vote through ballot papers instead of EVMs, NCP (SP) MLA Uttamrao Jankar who is elected from Malshiras constituency – Markadwadi village is a part of this seat – On Sunday, he offered to resign and demanded a new election. However, he has set the condition that the election should be by ballot only.
“I am ready to resign if the Election Commission promises to hold elections through ballot papers. This is my condition for my resignation,” Jankar said after an NCP (SP) delegation led by party president Sharad Pawar arrived to interact with the villagers. Last week, the local administration and the police foiled the villagers’ attempt to cast fake ballots. He expressed disbelief.
The expert said, ‘What is the problem in conducting the election with a single ballot in the country? If I am demanding an election through the ballot, it does not mean that I am playing in the media, the people here are not ready to accept what has happened.”
“1,400 villagers of Markadwadi said they voted for me. However, the statistics released by the election officials show that I got 800 votes. My opponent got 1000 votes. But only 500 people voted for my opponent. I am asking 1,400 villagers to submit an affidavit. In the affidavit it should be stated that I have voted… 91 villages of Malsiras taluk will pass the resolution asking for election by ballot and send it to the Election Commission.
Jankar added, “If we want to save democracy, only Sharad Pawar can save it. I am proposing to hold an election on the ballot in the country. I have also offered to resign on that condition, if the Commission is not ready to listen, we will go to the Supreme Court.”
The Malsiras MLA said his representatives had boycotted the counting process. “They suspected something was wrong… In the western part of the constituency, I was trailing by 2,000 votes in each phase. We immediately applied that VVPAT should be counted. However, the officials of the commission have said that the process cannot be stopped,’ he added.
The informant said that soon after the results were announced, people from the taluk came and met. ‘Everyone voted for me, but where did the vote go? People are surprised and cannot digest that I got less votes from my village,’ he claimed.
Jankar said that in 2019, Markadwadi had given him a lead of 1,043 votes. ‘At that time, Vijay Singh Mohite Patil and I were not together. Now we are together, how can I get less votes?” he asked.
In the recent Maharashtra elections, Jankar defeated his nearest rival BJP’s Ram Satpute by a margin of 13,147 votes.
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