Opposition should stop misleading people about EVMs, accept the mandate: Eknath Shinde

Mumbai. Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde targeted the opposition and accused them of misleading people about the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) and not accepting the mandate. Addressing reporters, Shinde said that the ruling Mahayuti alliance has won the assembly elections held on November 20 due to its work, so the opposition Mahavikas Aghadi (MVA) should accept the mandate and support the government in development works. Voting for the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly was held on November 20 and the results were declared on November 23. In this election, the ‘Mahayuti’ alliance of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) won 230 seats while the opposition alliance of Congress, Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (Uttar Pradesh) and Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) got only 46 seats. Opposition parties blamed irregularities in EVMs for the defeat in the election and demanded the use of ballot papers. The Shiv Sena chief targeted the opposition and said, “When you win, there is no problem in EVMs but when you lose, the machine malfunctions. This is not the right way.” He said that the opposition should accept the mandate that they have been defeated decisively. The Deputy Chief Minister said that the people have shown the opposition its place and proved that they do not vote for those who sit at home. He said, “In the Lok Sabha elections, Mahayuti got 2.48 crore votes, which is 43.55 percent. MVA got 2.5 crore votes, which is 43.71 per cent. Still the opposition won 31 seats and Mahayuti got 17 seats. Should we say that there was EVM tampering?” Shinde said that creating confusion about a democratically elected government is not good for democracy. He said, “People have given us a mandate for our work. Stop lamenting and accept the development work done by us. Accept the mandate.” Shinde said that the opposition won the Jharkhand assembly elections and by-elections to Nanded (Maharashtra) and Wayanad (Kerala) Lok Sabha seats. He said that Mahayuti got 49.30 per cent votes and 3.18 crore votes while MVA got 2.35 crore votes. Shinde said that there is a difference of one crore votes between the two parties. He said that no wrongdoing will happen and no injustice will be done to anyone.