Nationalist Congress Party MP from Satara Udayanraje Bhosale on Monday voiced support for the ballot paper voting system as against the Electronic Voting Machine, which has been mired in controversy following multiple allegations of rigging. Mr. Bhosale’s statement comes days after Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi president Prakash Ambedkar announced he would be taking the issue to court.
Saying that the EVM process was ‘manipulative’, Mr. Bhosale said that a difference of 672 votes was observed between the votes cast and votes counted in constituencies like Wai, Koregaon, Karad, Patan and Satara.
“The statistics are there for everyone to see. It is clear that something was wrong with the entire election process. I don’t know why they call the EVMs fool-proof,” Mr. Bhosale said.
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While he accepted that securing fewer seats than expected in the recent Lok Sabha elections is a factor behind the issue of EVMs being raised, he also added that the difference between votes cast and votes counted still remains unexplained.
Calling EVMs a “threat to India”, Mr. Bhosale demanded a re-election through ballot papers and also demanded that the EVM system be abolished permanently.
“I challenge the Election Commission to see the results after re-elections are conducted using ballot papers. I am not going to rebel nor I am going to approach the courts. I can speak for myself and I want the people to raise their voice as well to save the future of India.” he said.
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On Saturday last week, Mr. Ambedkar, in a press conference in Dadar, had declared that his party would be taking up the issue of EVMs with the Election Commission of India and would also be filing petitions in regional high courts over the matter.