Maharashtra village cancels 'repoll' plan after police intervention
03 Dec 2024
Residents of Markadwadi village in Maharashtra's Solapur district have called off their unofficial re-polling initiative after police intervention.
The villagers had planned to conduct their own voting process using ballot papers on December 3, owing to alleged discrepancies in the EVMs vote count.
However, after warnings of legal action from authorities and heavy police presence in the village, the plan was canceled.
EVM results spark controversy in Markadwadi
Vote dispute
The controversy started after the recent state elections where Nationalist Congress Party (Secular Progressive) candidate Uttam Jankar defeated Bharatiya Janata Party's Ram Satpute by 13,147 votes.
Despite Jankar's overall victory, official data revealed Satpute got 1,003 votes from Markadwadi, beating Jankar's 843 votes.
Skeptical of the result, villagers who have historically supported Jankar and the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) planned an unofficial re-poll.
Police intervention leads to cancelation of re-poll plan
Plan canceled
Deputy Superintendent of Police Narayan Shirgavkar said they had a detailed meeting with villagers and NCP (SP) leader Jankar.
"We explained to them procedures in the law and also warned that even if one vote is cast, cases will be registered," Shirgavkar said.
After these discussions, Jankar announced the cancelation of the re-poll plan to avoid potential chaos and conflict between police and residents.
Villagers remain determined to seek justice
Ongoing protest
Despite the cancelation of the re-poll plan, villagers are still determined to seek justice through other means. Jankar said plans to approach various authorities like the Election Commission and judiciary.
The official results of the Maharashtra state elections saw Mahayuti winning 230 out of 288 seats, with BJP winning 132 seats.
MVA, on the other hand, could only manage 46 seats across its coalition parties: Congress (16), NCP (SP) (10), and Shiv Sena (United Bharatiya Thackeray) (20).
