MUMBAI: NCP president Sharad Pawar’s statement that if his daughter
Supriya Sule loses the
Lok Sabha
elections from Baramati then people will lose faith in democracy has caused a flutter in political circles.
In an interview to a private television channel, Pawar said on Wednesday that the possibility of manipulation in the electronic voting machine could not be ruled out, and this could impact results of the Lok Sabha polls.
Pawar said politicians who have never contested assembly or Lok Sabha elections have been saying NCP’s Baramati nominee will be defeated and this was raising suspicion.
A week ago, Pawar had shared the dais with and backed
Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu when the latter demanded at least 50% of VVPAT slips be counted.
Senior BJP cabinet members Girish Mahajan, Vinod Tawde and Chandrakant Patil took strong objection to Pawar’s allegations. “Pawar is playing safe since he knows his daughter will be defeated in the Lok Sabha elections. He is preparing the ground by blaming it on EVMs. He must accept the reality,” Mahajan said.
Mahajan said the
Election Commission of India has cleared all doubts in the presence of nominees of all political parties. “If we were able to manipulate the voting machines, then we would not have lost in MP, Rajasthan and
Chhattisgarh
,” Mahajan said.