"Voters not feeling confident": Sharad Pawar raises concern over electronic voting machines

Solapur (Maharashtra) [India], December 8 : Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Chandra Pawar) chief Sharad Pawar on Sunday expressed concern over the recently concluded Maharashtra assembly elections, saying that "people have doubt over the election process and voters are not feeling confident."
Addressing an "anti-EVM" event at Markadwadi village in Solapur district of the State, the NCP-SCP chief said, "Elections happen. some win some lose...but in the recently concluded election in Maharashtra, people have doubts over the election process and voters are not feeling confident. We go to elections through EVMs. Voters go to vote and come out with confidence but some results have created doubt among people."
Pawar also sought to know why paper ballots were not used as was the practice in many countries, including the United States, England, and several European nations.
"America, England and many European countries are conducting elections on ballots, not on Electronic Voting Machines EVM. When the whole world is holding elections on the ballot, why not us?" Pawar said.
Further, he said the NCP-SCP will submit a resolution to the Election Commission and Maharashtra Chief Minister to conduct elections via paper ballots instead of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).
"Before arriving here I heard that people here were booked when they took a different stand that you wanted to conduct an election on ballot, because you were not confident about the results. This is surprising. I want to tell you that whatever complaints you have handed over to me, we will forward them to Election commission and Chief Minister of the state and bring a resolution that we don't want election on EVM, it should be done on ballot," he said.
Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance partners have been raising questions about the legitimacy of EVMs after facing a setback in the Maharashtra Assembly Election 2024.
In the election, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Mahayuti alliance secured a landslide by winning 235 seats. The results marked a significant milestone for the BJP, which emerged as the single-largest party with 132 seats.
The Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party also made notable gains, with 57 and 41 seats, respectively.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) suffered a major setback with Congress winning just 16 seats. Its alliance partner, Shiv Sena (UBT), won 20 seats, while the NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) secured only 10 seats.