Rajat Sharma, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of India TV.
Voting took place in the remaining 13 constituencies in Maharashtra on Monday. These also included 6 constituencies of Mumbai. The Election Commission said on Tuesday that 54.33 percent polling took place on 13 seats. 52.27 percent polling took place in Mumbai. After the completion of polling on 13 seats, voting has been completed on all 48 seats of Maharashtra. The disappointing thing is that this time also almost half of the voters in Mumbai did not cast their vote.
Film stars also came out to inspire people to vote in Mumbai. All the stars like Shahrukh Khan, Salman, Aamir Khan, Dharmendra, Amitabh Bachchan, Hema Malini, Deepika Padukone, Rekha, Ranbir Kapoor, Ranveer Singh, Sunil Shetty along with their families came to cast their vote, also appealed to the people to go to the polling booths but it was not possible. No significant effect was seen.
The crowd of voters arrived before the end of voting in the evening and the Election Commission had to extend the voting time by one hour. Complaints of EVM malfunction were also received at some places in Mumbai. Voting machines broke down at many polling booths in Borivali and Magathane areas. These machines were immediately replaced. But even after this, the leaders of Mahavikas Aghadi accused the Election Commission of deliberately trying to reduce the voting percentage.
Uddhav Thackeray said that in the areas where there are voters of Mahavikas Aghadi, EVMs broke down, which clearly means that a conspiracy is taking place at the behest of BJP. Uddhav Thackeray said that he will take this matter to court because he no longer trusts the Election Commission. When Uddhav Thackeray was threatening to go to court, Sharad Pawar claimed in an interview to India TV that this time the results of Maharashtra will be shocking.
He said, this time Mahavikas Aghadi will win at least fifty percent seats in Maharashtra. Let me tell you that in 2019, NDA had won 42 out of 48 seats in Maharashtra. The 13 seats on which voting took place today were all won by the NDA last time. But Sharad Pawar is confident that this time Mahavikas Aghadi will win at least 24 seats.
Pawar said, “I won’t be surprised even if we reach 40 to 50 percent in this election. Modi ji has not done any work in the last five years. People think they will get votes in the name of Modi ji but now it is not so. It is true that Modi is the leader who works the hardest in election campaigns. This cannot be ignored. But the image he had five years ago, the support he had, is not there at all today.”
Even if we accept Sharad Pawar’s point for a minute that Modi’s popularity has decreased, then Pawar Saheb should tell whose popularity has increased? Of Pawar Saheb? Whose nephew left him. Of Rahul Gandhi? Who kept running around in Rae Bareli today to save shame or Lalu Yadav? Whose side did Nitish leave or Mamata’s? Which separated from INDI Alliance, or from Kejriwal? Who are on interim bail. It is very easy to say that Modi is not getting the same support as before, but it is difficult to tell who is getting the support? The truth is that Pawar Saheb also knows that everyone is colorless in front of Modi’s hard work. (Rajat Sharma)
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