Pawar claims Misuse of power, money to control election mechanism seen during Maha polls

Pune: Sharad Pawar, the leader of the NCP (SP), said on Saturday that Maharashtra had witnessed the abuse of money and power to steer the entire election process, something that had never been observed in a state assembly or national elections.

When Pawar visited prominent activist Dr Baba Adhav, who is demonstrating against the purported "misuse of EVMs" in the most recent Maharashtra state elections, he made the comment.

Adhav, who is in his 90s, began his three-day protest at Phule Wada, the residence of social reformer Jyotiba Phule, in the city on Thursday.

The opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies, the Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP), have been alleging manipulation of EVMs in the recently held Maharashtra Assembly elections, which saw a landslide victory by the Mahayuti.

The Mahayuti, comprising the Shiv Sena, BJP and NCP, won 230 out of 288 assembly seats in the November 20 polls, while the MVA managed just 46 seats.

Talking to reporters, Pawar said while there is some truth to claims by some leaders about votes being added to EVMs, he did not have proof to corroborate them.

He said, "There is a murmur among the people that the recent polls in Maharashtra saw 'misuse of power' and 'floods of money', which was never seen in the past. Such things are heard of in local-level polls, but taking over the entire election mechanism with the help of money and misuse of power was not seen before. However, we witnessed it in Maharashtra, and people are restless now." He added that people were recalling late socialist ideologue Jaiprakash Narayan and felt somebody should take a step forward.

"I heard Baba Adhav has taken a lead into this issue and is agitating at Phule Wada. His protest gives hope to the people, but it is not enough. A mass revolt is necessary, as the danger of the parliamentary democracy getting destroyed looms," Pawar said.

The former Union minister said those who have reins of the country in their hands are least bothered about this.

"Despite widespread discussion over it (alleged misuse of EVMs) in the country, whenever the opposition tries to raise the issue in the Parliament, they are not allowed to speak. Opposition leaders have been seeking an opportunity to speak on these issues for six days, but their demands have not been accepted even once. It shows they want to attack parliamentary democracy," he claimed.

The NCP (SP) chief said some people had given him presentations about how votes can be added in EVMs, but he had no proof to corroborate these claims.

"We did not act on this as we did not believe them. We never thought that the Election Commission would go to such an extent. We have not expressed distrust towards the institution, but after the Maharashtra polls, it looks like there was truth to the claims," he said.

Asked about 22 defeated candidates demanding a recount, Pawar expressed doubts if something concrete would come out of this exercise.

The senior leader termed allegations of Congress leaders such as Balasaheb Thorat that 7 per cent of votes were cast in the last two hours of the election as shocking.

"It is not only Thorat but a lot of people have come up with similar information, and it needs to be taken into account. The Congress held a meeting on the issue, and there was a discussion that the INDIA bloc should take up this issue together. I am sure that by Monday, some decision will be made," he said.

He said while he previously did not believe in claims that 15 per cent votes were already set in EVMs, in the last five days, he felt there might be some truth in them.

With PTI inputs