The Republican Party of India, led by Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale, has rushed to defend the BJP over duplicate voting issues raised by opposition parties in Maharashtra and Delhi.
“The claims made by the Shiv Sena (UBT) and Leader of the Opposition in Parliament Rahul Gandhi about increased voting are completely baseless,” RJD national general secretary and spokesperson Avinash Mahatekar said.
He said: “What exactly is the role of UBT Sena, MNS, Congress and their allies’ polling agents during elections? Did Rahul Gandhi and Congress party UBT Sena, MNS not trust their own polling agents?”
Mahatkar said that in every election, the Election Commission summons polling agents from all political parties concerned to verify the identities of voters so that bogus voting is prevented.
He said that on polling day, these agents verify the identity of each voter, after which the election officer conducts all necessary checks before allowing the voter to cast his or her vote. “If there was indeed a surplus vote in the last Assembly elections, why did the Congress poll agents and its allies not raise any objections? This is a matter that deserves serious consideration,” Mahatkar said.
He added that keeping the Bihar Assembly elections and the upcoming local body elections in Maharashtra in mind, the Congress party was deliberately playing politics on “overvoting” just to mislead voters.
Earlier, opposition leaders met with the Delhi Election Commission to complain about irregularities in the electoral rolls.
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Opposition leaders of Maha Vikas Aghadi and National Renaissance Movement demanded postponement of local body elections in Maharashtra. However, the state election commission rejected their appeals and announced the first phase of elections for the municipal councils and parishes of Nagar.
(Tags for translation) Ramdas Athawale
