BJP MLA Gopichand Padalkar.
Credit: X/@GopichandP_MLA
Mumbai: Accusing veteran politician Sharad Pawar of committing a sin of doubting the EVMs and autonomous body like Election Commission, BJP MLA Gopichand Padalkar demanded a case against the NCP (SP) supremo for what he described as misleading the simple innocent people of Markadwadi.
After the results of the 2024 Vidhan Sabha polls of Maharashtra, Markadwadi village in the Malshiras tehsil of Solapur district shot into national headlines after they unsuccessfully attempted mock-polling.
The Malshiras seat was won by Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP)’s Uttamrao Jankar, who got 1,21,713 votes defeating BJP’s Ram Satpute, who ended up with 1,08,566 votes - the margin being 13,147 votes. Around a dozen candidates were in fray in the polls.
However, Election Commission data revealed that Satpute received 1,003 votes from Markadwadi village as against Jankar's 843.
Padalkar said that Sharad Pawar and Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi have masterminded the conspiracy of re-polling in Markadwadi.
“The Sarpanch and Deputy Sarpanch of the Markadwadi village, the same village where the protest was held demanding re-election, have revealed that the conspiracy behind that protest was orchestrated by Sharad Pawar and his associates…rattled by the less number of votes received by the Maha Vikas Aghadi candidate, Sharad Pawar and the MVA leaders created a nationwide uproar by making false and baseless allegations of EVM tampering in Markadwadi,” he alleged.
Padalkar, an MLA from Jat in Satara district, who is considered close to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, said Pawar, Congress and the opposition had devised a cunning plot to put the blame on the Election Commission and the EVMs.
He further said that Pawar had made this sensational revelation that two individuals had come to meet him before the elections and guaranteed that they could manipulate votes in 160 constituencies to ensure victory in the election.
“Pawar is like a factory churning out conspiracies. If those two individuals came to you with the intention of carrying out acts destructive to the nation and democracy, then why didn’t you call the Home Minister and inform him? Why didn't you demand the arrest of those two?,” he said and added that Pawar did nothing like that and instead took them to Rahul Gandhi.