Maha Assembly Polling Process: ECI's Maharashtra CEO Silent on VBA's Queries, Claims Prakash Ambedkar

Mumbai, Dec 9 (NationPress) The Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) has asserted that it has yet to receive any reply from the Election Commission of India (ECI)’s Maharashtra Chief Electoral Officer concerning a series of inquiries about the polling processes during the November 2024 state Assembly elections, as of Monday.

The party’s Chief Spokesperson Siddharth Mokle mentioned that the letter, spanning 2 pages, sent to the CEO by VBA President Prakash Ambedkar last Friday (December 6), has not garnered any response from ECI – CEO S. Chokalingam thus far.

In a video statement on Monday (December 9), Ambedkar reiterated the contents of his letter, which highlighted several issues regarding the Assembly polls that have raised public concerns. "A total of 75 lakh votes were cast after evening (November 20). The official voting time was until 6 p.m. Were the tokens distributed at each (polling) booth after 6 p.m.? If so, how many were distributed?" questioned Ambedkar, who is the grandson of the Chief Architect of the Indian Constitution, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar.

Seeking detailed information for each constituency along with visual proof of every polling station, the VBA chief inquired whether videography was conducted after 6 p.m. at all locations. The VBA has requested information on a priority basis regarding which officials distributed the tokens to the voters after 6 p.m. that day.

Ambedkar also questioned the CEO about the time required for voters to cast their votes, and whether the District Election Officer/Returning Officer and booth Supervisors recorded the number of votes cast between 5-6 p.m. on November 20. "I wrote to the ECI on Friday... to express serious concerns about the discrepancies between the provisional voter turnout and the final data in the recent state Vidhan Sabha elections. It is crucial that our questions receive answers and that our concerns are addressed, as they will recognize the diminished and shaken trust in the electoral process and the ECI’s actions," stated Ambedkar.

The elections held last month resulted in an unprecedented landslide victory for the ruling MahaYuti alliance of BJP-Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party, leading to a surge of questions and doubts, along with around 22 requests for vote recounts from candidates across various parties.

In the 288-member Assembly, the MahaYuti secured 230 seats, while the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) was nearly wiped out, claiming only 46 seats, with the remaining seats going to independents and smaller parties.

The MVA allies, Congress-Shiv Sena (UBT)-NCP (SP), along with VBA, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Samajwadi Party, and others have raised protests against what they perceive as biased results, blaming the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) for their defeat.

At least three MVA winners have expressed their willingness to resign as MLAs and contest elections again if the ECI conducts them using ballot paper. They include Nana F. Patole, state Congress President from Sakoli (Bhandara), Sunil Raut from Vikhroli (Mumbai), and Uttamrao S. Jankar from Malshiras (Solapur).

Meanwhile, several villages in the state, starting with Markadwadi (Solapur), have demanded ‘mock paper ballot voting’ to alleviate their concerns, and numerous anti-EVM campaigns have commenced. Markadwadi, where local authorities intervened against villagers preparing for a ‘mock ballot paper poll’ on December 3, along with other villages in Akola and others, have drawn national attention to the anti-EVM movement.

NCP (SP) leader Sharad Pawar visited Markadwadi on Sunday (December 8), Congress’ Patole is set to visit on Tuesday (December 10), and SS (UBT) President Uddhav Thackeray is expected to make a trip there shortly. Additionally, Congress’ Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi plans a padyatra in the village in the upcoming fortnight.

The ECI has consistently asserted that there were no issues, while the MahaYuti has mocked the MVA for acting as sore losers following their decisive defeat in the state elections.