Maharashtra village calls off 'repoll' plan with ballot papers following police intervention

A group of villagers from Malsharias assembly segment in Maharashtra asking a reelection with ballot papers relented on Tuesday and gave up their plan following police intervention said the NCP SP winning candidate from the seat PTI reportedA senior police official stated that they had threatened the villagers with legal action if they carried out their polling planEarlier locals of Markadwadi village under Malshiras segment in Solapur district had put up banners announcing a repoll to be held on December 3 PTI reportedThe village comes under the Malshiras assembly constituency where Sharad Pawarled NCP candidate Uttam Jankar defeated BJPs Ram Satpute by 13 147 votes in the November 20 Maharastra Elections 2024 the results of which were declared on November 2Though Jankar won the seat Markadwadi residents claimed he won less votes in their village against Satpute which was not possible and cast doubt on the Electronic Voting Machine EVMsThe Malshiras subdivisional magistrate on Monday imposed prohibitory orders under section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita from December 2 to 5 in the area in order to avoid any conflict or law and order situation due to the repoll plan of locals an official earlier said PTI citedHeavy police presence was in place as a group of village residents prepared for the repoll using vote papers on Tuesday morningLater Deputy Superintendent of Police Malshiras division Narayan Shirgavkar said they had a detailed meeting with the villagers and NCP SP leader Jankar PTI reportedWe explained to them procedures in the law and also warned that even if one vote is cast cases will be registered Shirgavkar saidJankar said he had a meeting with police officials and also held discussions with the villagers after which they cancelled the repoll planWe had a meeting with police officials who said they will seize all the material at the polling station and will file cases the NCP SP leader saidAfter the meeting with police we had a discussion with villagers Their opinion was that if the administration is not allowing the polling to take place there will be chaos and conflict between police and residents and as a result the process will not take place and people will leave the polling station he saidAccording to Jankar the villagers agreed to halt the polling process after taking into account the police administrations positionHowever we will continue our protest by other means We will try to take this issue to various authorities such as the Election Commission and judiciary and we will not stop until we get justice he saidEarlier local residents Ranjit Markad said that the village had 2000 eligible voters on the polling day and 1900 of them excercised their franchise PTI reportedThe village always supported Jankar in the past but this time as per the counting of votes through EVMs Jankar got 843 votes while BJP candidate Satpute polled 1003 votes This is not possible and we do not trust these EVM numbers that is why we decided to conduct the repoll through ballot papers said MarkadThe EVM results appear questionable and a delegation of villagers addressed the district administration to request a repoll using ballot papers but the request was denied according to another villagerIn the recently finished Maharashtra elections the Mahayuti won 230 of the states 288 assembly seats with the BJP winning 132 the Shiv Sena winning 57 and Ajit Pawars NCP taking 41 The Maha Vikas Aghadi which included the Shiv Sena UBT the Congress and Sharad Pawars NCP SP secured only 46 seatsWith inputs from PTI