Challenging the results of the Election Commission, informal re-polling on ballot paper is taking place today in Markadwadi, Solapur, Maharashtra. Till the time of writing the news, BJP candidate Ram Satpute is leading. MVA supporters, who have always supported Uttam Rao Junkar, believe that the official count is wrong and want a proper count of votes. Most of the voters in Markadwadi are MVA supporters.
Markadwadi falls under Malshiras assembly constituency of Solapur, where NCP’s Uttam Rao Jankar defeated former BJP MLA Ram Satpute. Jankar won, but his MVA supporters objected to the EVM results declared by the Election Commission, which showed the BJP candidate in the lead. Therefore re-polling is being conducted. The Solapur administration has issued a notice asking the villagers not to vote again.
There are about 2000 voters in the village
Solapur SP Atul Kulkarni said that police force has also been deployed in the village to prevent any untoward incident. The village has over 2000 eligible voters, of whom around 1900 voted on November 20. The village has supported Jankar and Mohit Patil family, but this time in the elections Jankar got 843 votes. Satpute got 1003 votes. The villagers do not trust these figures of the Election Commission, hence voting is being conducted through ballot paper today on 3rd December. MVA supporters raised funds for the printing of ballot papers bearing the names and photographs of all the candidates contesting from the Malshiras seat. He called upon all the villagers to vote through ballot paper.
The returning officer has denied any irregularities in the data.
Malshiras seat returning officer Vijay Pangarkar said that the counting of votes for the assembly elections was completed on November 23. The counting process at all the 3 booths in Markadwadi was transparent and there were no discrepancies in the data. BJP supporters of the village have announced not to participate. Avinash Kodilkar said that the decision to vote through ballot paper was taken by some people without taking the rest of the village into confidence. The election is over and there is no need for this re-poll.
