Solapur: Sharad Pawar, on a tour to Makadwadi on Sunday, will discuss with the villagers about their demand for voting in ballot papers.
After a landslide win posted by the Mahayuti Alliance, the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi has been objecting to EVMs, demanding the return of ballots. In a similar tune, villagers of Makadwadi in Malshiras of Solapur have been demanding voting to be conducted in ballots, to which the administration objected. Defying the administration's diktat, villagers completed the process of conducting votes on ballot papers.
Following the villagers' decision to hold the December 3 elections in ballots, the administration imposed a ban on gatherings in the village and a curfew to prevent any incident in antimony to law and order. The police also declared that if voting takes place, criminal cases would be registered against those involved in the process.
The issue cropped up after NCP (SCP) candidate Uttamrao Jankar won the 2024 assembly elections from the Malshiras seat by a sliver margin. Based on the experience of previous elections, Jankar was expected to win by a bigger margin with a sizeable number of votes from Makadwadi.
When the Jankar and Mohite Patil factions fought together, BJP candidate Ram Satpute got the majority of votes from Makadwadi, promoting villagers' doubt over the fairness of EVM. It came to be known after counting of votes that Jankar got fewer votes than his previous tally. He demanded a reelection with ballots, to which the administration said no such process could be arranged. But the adamant villages arranged for ballot voting on December 8 and requested the administration's cooperation in the process.
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