PUNE: Markadwadi in Solapur, Maharashtra, where most voters are MVA supporters, will go to polls again, though unofficially, on Tuesday, this time using ballot papers to challenge EC’s data. Markadwadi falls under Malshiras assembly constituency in Solapur, where NCP (SP)’s Uttamrao Jankar defeated BJP’s former MLA Ram Satpute. Jankar won, but his MVA supporters from the village objected to EVM counting figures released by EC which showed that the BJP candidate had a lead. Hence, a “re-poll”.
A day before the exercise, Solapur administration issued notices to some villagers to desist from “repolling” as it may lead to tension in the area. Police force was deployed there on Monday. Speaking to TOI, Solapur SP Atul Kulkarni said, “We have issued notices as a precautionary measure to avoid any untoward incident. Administration has been talking to the villagers to persuade them to avoid any step leading to a law and order situation.”
Ranjeet Markad, one of the villagers, told TOI, “We have over 2,000 eligible voters in the village of whom nearly 1,900 voted on Nov 20. Our village has always supported Jankar and the Mohite Patil family. But this election, Jankar polled 843 votes while Satpute got 1,003 votes from our village. We do not believe this EC data. So, we have organised polling on ballot papers on Dec 3 to get evidence of the distribution of votes.”
MVA supporters said they crowdfunded the printing of ballot papers with names and photographs of all candidates who contested Malshiras seat in the actual election. They have installed banners calling upon all villagers to “cast their vote” via ballot papers. “We intend to follow the entire process, and we have appealed to all the villagers to participate,” Amit Waghmore, another resident, said.
Their request to the tehsildar to appoint some govt officials to monitor the process has been rejected. Vijay Pangarkar, returning officer for Malshiras seat, said, “Voting and counting process ended on Nov 23 when the results were declared. The process in all the 3 booths in Markadwadi was transparent, and there was no discrepancy in the data.”
BJP supporters from the village have announced that they will not participate. Avinash Kodilkar said, “The decision to vote using ballot paper was taken by a few without taking the rest of the village into confidence. The state election is over and there is no need to undertake this exercise again. We will boycott it.”
Jankar visited the village to support the ballot voting. “We suspect an Antarwali Sarati like situation where the police used force against Maratha quota agitators. But, the process will be undertaken to reveal actual figures. People do not believe the results of the assembly poll, and Markadwadi will set an example,” he said.