NCP (SP) President Sharad Pawar (Left), Maharashtra Deputy CM Eknath Shinde (Right) | File
The BJP and Shinde Sena have reacted sharply to NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar’s visit to the Markadwadi village in Solapur district, which questioned the credibility of EVMs and tried to conduct a mock “repoll” using ballot papers.
Pawar on Sunday visited Markadwadi and hailed the villagers for “showing the right direction to the whole country”. Hitting back, Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde asked why the EVMs are blamed only when the opposition loses. “You won in Jharkhand and Karnataka and also performed well in the recent Lok Sabha elections. Even Priyanka Gandhi won from Wayanad. The EVMs are reliable when you win then why are they suddenly faulty when you lose. This double standard is clear,” said Shinde.
Crediting the Ladki Bahin scheme for Mahayuti’s landslide victory, he slammed the opposition, saying it is left with no work and the people’s trust in the ruling combine is evident. Shinde further pointed out that the opposition had criticised the Supreme Court when it gave a verdict against them but praised it when the outcome was favorable. “This is dangerous for democracy,” he said, adding that the state polls were free and fair and that the opposition should stop complaining.
Shinde pointed out that despite receiving more votes than Maha Vikas Aghadi, Mahayuti managed to secure 17 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. “Should we call it an EVM scam,” he asked. In a similar vein, state BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule also statistically ‘countered’ the opposition’s charge. Taking to X, he said that the villagers of Markadwadi had consistently supported different political parties over the years. He shared vote statistics from the 2014, 2019 and 2024 general elections to make the case.
In 2014, NCP’s Vijaysinh Mohite Patil secured 533 votes, while Sadabhau Khot from the grand alliance received 664 votes, said Bawankule. In the same year’s assembly elections, NCP’s Hanumant Dolas garnered 294 votes, while independent candidate Anant Khandagale won 979 votes.
He drew similar parallels with the subsequent polls, conveying the idea that the Markadwadi voters have, so far, not aligned with a single party. Bawankule asked Pawar to “stop making baseless accusations and acknowledge the reality of the voting statistics”. Stop spreading illusions and blaming the EVMs, he said.
On Saturday, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had also urged Pawar “not to mislead the people”. Talking about the number game, he delved into the statistics of previous polls, pointing out how at times, the BJP got less seats despite larger vote share. “Let’s see what happened in the 2024 Lok Sabha. The BJP got 1,49,13,914 votes and nine seats, but the Congress got 96,41,856 votes and 13 seats,” Fadnavis said. He added, “If you accept defeat, you will get out of this quickly. It is hoped that you will at least advise your colleagues to introspect.”
Meanwhile, Aaditya Thackeray retorted, saying “Bawankule follows the constitution of China and Macau. You bought an illegal government for two-and-a-half years and now you won the election by the EVM manipulation.”
