Shetti wants ballot voting for assembly polls

Nagpur: Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana chief and farmers’ leader from sugarcane belt of the state Raju Shetti still believes that EVM manipulation was the only reason why the Narendra Modi-led BJP got relected in the recently held Lok Sabha elections.
“People have no faith in EVM machines. The coming elections to the state Vidhan Sabha should have ballot papers and not EVM machines,” said Shetti.
The western Maharashtra leader himself lost from Hatkanangale parliamentary seat in Kohapur district to Shiv Sena’s Dhairyasheel Mane. The two-term MP, however, does not believe that his defeat had anything to do with his shifting loyalty to the Congress-NCP. In 2014, he had aligned with the BJP and won. Shetti was talking to reporters before proceeding for a drought summit at Loni in Warud taluka on Monday.
Farmers’ movement across the country, of which Shetti was an important part, had been very aggressive and on the streets for two years. The farm leaders were sure that the farming community would ensure BJP’s defeat. Asked what went wrong, Shetti said it was a shocking defeat for the anti- BJP forces in the recent elections.
“Farmers make up half the country’s electorate. If they are angry with Modi and his policies, there was no way the BJP could have won with increased majority. That is the reason we want EVMs to be dumped and go back to ballot paper voting,” said Shetti.
He is ready to take the lead for forming a stronger Mahaaghadi (anti-BJP formation) to fight the state assembly elections in September-October. Shetti wants even the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnorman Sena and Prakash Ambedkar’s Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi to join the Mahaaghadi to defeat BJP-Sena in the state elections.
Shetti slammed the Devendra Fadnavis government for failing to tackle the severe drought situation in the state and said the government would have to face the consequences.