'Ballot Paper Voting' in Maharashtra village thwarted
Local Police Tuesday December 03, 2024 thwarted a planned ‘mock polling’ using ballot papers in Markadwadi village of the Malshiras assembly constituency in Solapur district of Maharashtra
[Maharashtra Police imposed curfew in the Markadwadi village to foil the planned "mock polling" using ballot papers. (Image source: Supplied)]
Mumbai: Local Police Tuesday December 03, 2024 thwarted a planned ‘mock polling’ using ballot papers in Markadwadi village of the Malshiras assembly constituency in Solapur district of Maharashtra.
The official polling for the 2024 Maharshtra Vidhan Sabha Chunav was held in Markadwadi village on November 20 along with the other parts of the state.
According to the final result announced by the Election Commission of India, Uttamrao Shivdas Jankar of the NCP Sharad Pawar faction won the election defeating Ram Vitthal Satpute of the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) by 13,147 votes.
Despite the victory of Uttamrao Shivdas Jankar, his supporters in Markadwadi village were unhappy as they found his BJP rival Ram Satpute getting more votes.
Why the villagers are unhappy?
Marakadwadi village has a total of 2,000 votes and around 1,900 villagers had casted their votes on Nov 20 using the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM). Of the total polled votes, Jankar got 843 votes while his BJP rival Satpute bagged 1,003 votes.
“This is impossible. The village dominated by Dhangar samaj is Jankar bastion who himself is from the community. He has always got more votes from the village and this time the villagers had supported him en masse”, a villager said talking with the media.
“But the result showed he got less votes. Where had our votes gone?” he asked apparently questioning the EVM.
"Curfew Imposed"
Irked supporters of Jankar then appealed the Panchayat Head to organise a mock polling using ballot papers and asked the villagers to cast their votes as they did on the actual polling day.
The Village Head however refused to accept their demand. Finally, the villagers fixed December 03 for the mock polling to be conducted on their own.
The local police however sprang into action and imposed curfew in the village till Dec 05, 2024.
“As per the Constitution only Election Commission can hold elections. In case of doubts, one can approach courts”, a senior official told The Hindu.
Talking to the newspaper, Superintendent of Police Atul Kulkarni said, “We had explained to the villagers what is legal and what is not, and the consequences of their actions.”
"Mock Polling Thwarted"
On Tuesday, Tehsildar Vijaya Pangarkar again rejected the villagers' plea seeking re-poll using ballot papers saying the move is illegal.
"The assembly elections were conducted lawfully, and no objections were raised during voting or counting. Conducting a ballot paper poll now is illegal and beyond the scope of the election process," Pangarkar said.
The villagers however were adamant on re-polling. Later, Deputy Superintendent of Police (Malshiras Division) Narayan Shirgavkar held a meeting with NCP (SP) leader Jankar and his supporters.
"We explained the procedures in the law to them and warned them that even if one vote is cast, cases will be registered," Shirgavkar said.
Following the intervention of the police and local administration, Jankar finally announced to cancel the “re-polling” exercise.
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