The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday hit out at Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar for questioning the efficacy of electronic voting machines (EVMs) and the election process in general. The party said that this indicated his party’s anticipated defeat in Baramati.
“By pointing a finger to the tampering of EVMs, Mr. Pawar has already started preparing his excuses as he has sensed that not a single member of his family is going to be elected,” said senior BJP leader and State Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil in Jalgaon.
Expressing confidence that the BJP would win not only Baramati but also other western Maharashtra constituencies of Madha, Hatkanangale and Satara, Mr. Patil said that it was only a question of counting the victory-margins now.
Mr. Pawar had expressed his doubts in a recent interview to a Marathi TV channel. “If 200 opposition [Congress, NCP and their allies] MPs are elected, then there is no EVM tampering… But if the BJP is re-elected, then Mr. Pawar thinks that EVMs have been manipulated. What sort of absurd logic is this?” asked Mr. Patil, who oversaw the BJP’s strategy in the keenly contested seats in western Maharashtra.
Stating that the BJP had no problem in doing away with EVMs, Mr. Patil said, “Who introduced the EVMs? It was the Congress party. We [the BJP] have no problem to supplant it with the ballot system. And why ballots, we are even open to the system where the electorate in each constituency votes by a show of hands.”
In his interview, Mr. Pawar had said: “When persons like Chandrakant Patil, who never contested the Assembly or Parliamentary polls, claim with such confidence that the BJP will win these seats [like Baramati and Madha Lok Sabha seats], it raises doubts in the minds of many people as to whether EVMs have been manipulated… While I have heard discussions to this effect, I have no authentic information.”
Mr. Pawar’s daughter and sitting MP Supriya Sule, is seeking reelection for the third time from Baramati. Her opponent is Kanchan Kul (BJP-Sena).
Meanwhile, other State unit BJP leaders including Vinod Tawde and Girish Mahajan joined forces in targeting Mr. Pawar.
“Sharad Pawar can see defeat staring him in the face. He has received his feedback from the Barmati constituency and perhaps senses that Ms. Sule cannot win. Hence, he has already started blaming the EVMs,” said Mr. Tawde.