Congress, NCP to meet EC today to seek action against BJP for Maharashtra bypoll violations

The Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) have also decided to push for going back to the system of ballot papers in elections.

A delegation of Congress leaders in the state will meet the chief election commissioner of India on Tuesday to seek action against the alleged misuse of power by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government and anomalies in the election process during the recent state bypolls.

General secretary of the Maharashtra unit of the Congress, Sachin Sawant, said FIRS have been lodged against BJP workers. (HT File)

The Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) have also decided to push for going back to the system of ballot papers in elections.

The parties had complained about the violation of the model code of conduct by the BJP and the failure of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPATs) during the bypolls held in Palghar and Bhandara-Gondiya last week.

The Congress had also lodged a complaint about illegal hoardings put by the BJP and the distribution of money ahead of the election. “We also lodged a complaint with the state machinery of the Election Commission of India (ECI) against chief minister Devendra Fadnavis for his advice to party workers to win the elections by hook or by crook [by resorting to saam, daam, dand, bhed]. The FIRs have been filed against BJP workers, but there has been no progress. We will meet OP Rawat, the chief election commissioner, on Tuesday morning, to seek action against the wrongdoings,” said general secretary, state unit of the Congress, Sachin Sawant.

“After the large scale failure of the machines, the voters and parties like us have lost trust in them. It is better to revert to the ballot papers,” said Maharashtra NCP chief Jayant Patil.

The Congress had passed a resolution to bring back the system of ballot papers during its plenary session in March this year.