Sharad Pawar visits village demanding re-poll through ballot papers

Solapur. Maharashtra Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharadchandra Pawar on Sunday extended his support to the people of Markadwadi village in Solapur district who are raising doubts over EVMs and demanding re-poll using ballot papers. Earlier this week, police registered a case against over 200 people from the village and nearby areas for allegedly trying to conduct re-poll using ballot papers in an unauthorised manner. Pawar met the villagers along with several NCP-Sharadchandra Pawar leaders, including Jayant Patil. Addressing a gathering, the senior politician said, “I want to thank the villagers as you have shown the right direction to the entire country. You (villagers) were the ones who thought of conducting elections using ballot papers.” He said, “We have collected some data about EVMs. People voted but in the end the results were unexpected. You have raised awareness about the issue and this process needs to be changed.” Pawar criticised the police action against the villagers who demanded re-election using ballot papers. “How can the police stop villagers from gathering in their village? How can they file a complaint against you (villagers)? Collect all such complaints and give them to me. I will raise the issue before the chief minister, the state’s chief electoral officer, the Prime Minister and even the Election Commission of India,” he said. A group of villagers had insisted on re-election using ballot papers, raising doubts over the votes counted through EVMs at a polling booth in Markadwadi in the November 20 assembly elections in the state. The village falls under the Malshiras assembly constituency, where NCP-Sharadchandra Pawar’s candidate Uttam Jankar defeated BJP’s Ram Satpute by 13,147 votes.