- By Aashish Vashistha
- Wed, 27 Nov 2024 02:26 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
The candidates from the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) who were defeated in the recent Maharashtra assembly elections have decided to request a verification of the EVMs and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trails (VVPATs) in their constituencies, news agency PTI reported citing a leader of the opposition alliance.
The MVA, led by the Congress, Shiv Sena, and NCP factions under Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar, is also planning to approach the court to push for a return to ballot papers. Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar on Wednesday reportedly met with MVA candidates who were defeated to form legal teams at both the state and national levels to tackle the ongoing concerns of opposition parties.
Several defeated candidates from the opposition Shiv Sena (UBT) raised concerns about the operation of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) during a meeting with party leader Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday. Thackeray reviewed his party's poor performance in the elections at the gathering, which took place at his Mumbai residence.
A Sena (UBT) MLA from Mumbai has alleged discrepancies between the number of votes cast and the votes recorded in the EVMs. The MLA alleged that nearly all candidates expressed concerns regarding the reliability of the voting machines.
Congress leader Arif Naseem Khan, who was defeated in the Chandivali assembly constituency in Mumbai, spoke to news agency PTI on Tuesday, revealing that he had a conversation with Uddhav Thackeray.
"We are getting complaints from different parts of the state expressing doubts over the results. In a democracy, complaints need to be verified and many of us, including myself, (who faced defeat) are in the process of applying for the verification," Khan said.
Maharashtra Assembly Election Result 2024
This comes following MVA’s big setback in the recently concluded Maharashtra Assembly elections. The incumbent Mahayuti alliance comprising the BJP, Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, and Ajit Pawar-led NCP delivered a stunning performance in Maharashtra, winning 230 out of 288 seats, giving a major setback to the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), reducing them to just 46 seats. The Samajwadi Party managed to win two seats.
The BJP emerged as the leading party with 132 seats, followed by Shiv Sena with 57 seats and NCP securing 41 seats. In the MVA alliance, Shiv Sena (UBT) emerged as the largest party by capturing 20 seats, followed by Congress which bagged 16 seats, and NCP (SP) managed to secure victory on 10 seats.