After poll debacle, Patole meets Kharge, denies resigning from post

Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole met with party leader Kharge to discuss assembly poll results, denying resignation rumors and questioning election integrity.

MUMBAI: Amid speculations that he offered to quit from the position of Maharashtra Congress president, Nana Patole on Monday met party president Mallikarjun Kharge to apprise him of what happened in the state assembly polls, following the party’s debacle. Expressing his doubt over the results, Patole said they are going to find out the actual reason behind the landslide victory of the Mahayuti alliance and denied reports that he had tendered resignation from the state president post.

After poll debacle, Patole meets Kharge, denies resigning from post

“We are not saying anything about EVMs but the people have started asking if the results will be decided by a machine or their votes. A debate is going on among the people and Congress will not leave it at this,” Patole told reporters in New Delhi after his 45-minute meeting with Kharge.

To corroborate his suspicion, he shared the voting figures of the bypoll for Nanded Lok Sabha seat and the six assembly constituencies in the district. The difference of votes was 1,84,322 between the Lok Sabha bypoll and the assembly elections when both the polls were held at the same time.

“We will have to decide our future strategy and find the culprit to save democracy,” the state president said.

Patole is expected to meet Rahul Gandhi, the leader of Opposition, on Tuesday. He has called a meeting of the newly elected MLAs on Wednesday. A day later, the party will organise another meeting of the candidates who were defeated in the polls to introspect the reasons and chalk out future plans.

Congress has won only 16 of the 101 seats contested by the party in the assembly elections. Patole won the Sakoli seat by a thin margin of 208 votes which led to speculations that he might resign from the state president position, which Patole quickly refuted. “I have not said anything or discussed anything of this sort with the party president.”