Mumbai: Not convinced and upset with the recently concluded state Assembly polls, a village in Maharashtra’s Solapur has planned to conduct a re-election using ballot papers on Tuesday (Dec 3).
Markadwadi village comes under the Malshiras Assembly constituency. This seat is reserved for the Scheduled Castes. In the Assembly polls, Malshiras NCP (SP) candidate Uttam Jankar defeated BJP’s Ram Satpute.
However, according to the ECI data that Satpute received 1,003 votes from Markadwadi, surpassing Jankar’s 843. The results have caused outrage among villagers. Majority of the villagers are supporters of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA).
On Nov 23, the MVA suffered a massive setback. It managed to secure only 46 seats and lost to the Mayauti alliance. “We do not trust the Election Commission data. To verify the true count, we are conducting our own voting process using ballot papers,” said Markadwadi resident, Ranjit Markad, as quoted by India Today.
Banners urging the villagers to participate in the ‘unofficial’ re-polling have been put up across the village. The request by villagers to appoint government officials to oversee the polling process was denied. The administration had also issued notices urging villagers to not take part in the re-voting. According to a Returning Officer, Vijay Pangarkar, the voting was conducted in a transparent manner and there was no discrepancy in the figures from the three booths in Markadwadi.
The Solapur district administration had warned that such steps could lead to tensions. To prevent any untoward incident or unrest, heavy police forces were deployed in the village.
“We have issued precautionary notices and are engaging with the villagers to prevent any disruption to law and order,” Solapur SP Atul Kulkarni said, as quoted by India Today.
