Maharashtra Assembly Elections 2024 | Opposition should accept its defeat and introspect instead of pointing fingers at EVMs: Chandrashekhar Bawankule

Nagpur: Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule on Wednesday said instead of raising question marks over the electronic voting machines (EVMs), the opposition parties should accept their defeat in the state assembly polls and introspect.

Talking to reporters, he also accused the Opposition of speaking lies over the issue of EVMs.

Responding to a query on the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies alleging manipulation of EVMs, Bawankule asked why they did not raise a question mark over these machines when they performed well in the Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra earlier this year.

"The Congress also won the Nanded Lok Sabha bypoll. So was the EVM proper in Nanded?" he asked.

"All these are just lies...They should accept their defeat and introspect. We introspected after losing the Lok Sabha elections (in Maharashtra) and moved ahead. We worked at the booth level and met people. This time (in the assembly polls), our vote percentage increased," he said.

The MVA, comprising the Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP (SP) and Congress, won 30 out of 48 Lok Sabha seats in the general elections, and one Congress rebel later extended support to the alliance. In the assembly elections held on November 20, the ruling Mahayuti of BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP won a whopping 230 seats, while the MVA managed to get only 46 in the 288-member House.

Bawankule's remarks on the EVMs come a day after the Supreme Court dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking to revert to paper ballot voting in elections in the country. The apex court said that allegations of tampering with EVMs raked up only when people lose polls.

"What happens is, when you win the election, EVMs are not tampered with. When you lose the election, EVMs are tampered (with)," remarked a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and P B Varale on Tuesday.

On a query over finalising the name of the chief minister in Maharashtra, Bawankule said, "In the alliance government, such things take time as many factors like the ministerial post, portfolios and guardian ministership have to be taken into account and decided."

The MVA candidates who faced defeat in the Maharashtra assembly polls have decided to seek verification of the EVM-Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trails (VVPATs) units in their segments, a leader of the opposition alliance said.

Many losing candidates of the Shiv Sena (UBT) pointed fingers at the functioning of the EVMs during their interaction with party head Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday.

Maharashtra Assembly poll 2024 results | Check constituency results here

Jharkhand Assembly poll 2024 results | Check constituency results here

Bypoll 2024 results | Check Karnataka results here

Assembly Elections 2024 | The Maharashtra Assembly polls took place against the backdrop of a fractured political landscape in the western state where the Shiv Sena and NCP went up against the Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar factions, even as the BJP and Congress tried to make their mark. Maha Yuti are currently comfortably poised to win. Meanwhile, in Jharkhand, the JMM faced a challenge after Hemant Soren's arrest and Champai, a longstanding party member, joining the BJP, but look set to retain power with its I.N.D.I.A. allies. Check live updates and track the latest coverage, live news, in-depth opinions, and analyses only on Deccan Herald.

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