Raj Thackeray demands the EC to conduct upcoming Maharashtra Assembly polls using ballot papers, meets Sonia Gandhi
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- Category: Maharashtra Political News
- Last Updated: Wednesday, 10 July 2019 13:11
Raj Thackeray demands the EC to conduct upcoming Maharashtra Assembly polls using ballot papers, meets Sonia Gandhi
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) president Raj Thackeray met Congress parliamentary party leader Sonia Gandhi on Monday (July 8, 2019).
The two leaders discussed the issue of EVMs and the political situation in Maharashtra where Assembly elections are scheduled to take place later this year.
He demanded that the upcoming state assembly elections should be held with ballot papers and not with Electronic Voting Machines.
Addressing the media after the meeting, Thackeray said: “However, with the reactions of the EC officials, they seemed disinterested on such a serious issue. I have zero expectations for them.”
He said that many questions have been raised on the reliability of the EVMs, in which US-manufactured chips are susceptible to hacking. “In the last Lok Sabha (2019) elections, in 370 constituencies there are discrepancies in the figures of votes cast and the votes counted, and the number of votes counted was higher than the votes cast,” Thackeray alleged.
He said the people have a right to know that the intention of the vote has gone to the candidate and the ballot papers can provide that transparency.
Features needed to win Maharashtra Assembly Elections 2019
The MNS chief observed that “if the match is already fixed, then what is the need for preparations”, adding he had submitted a letter with the demand for reverting to ballot papers in the Maharashtra Assembly elections.
He pointed out that since the past 20 years, fingers are pointed at EVMs, and till 2014, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was against EVMs, their leader's event went to the courts, “but after 2014, they suddenly stopped talking about it”.
They mainly discussed the EVM issue, but they also exchanged views on the political situation in the state in view of the upcoming Assembly polls in the state.