“When they [opposition parties] won the elections in Telangana and Rajasthan, there was nothing wrong with the EVMs. But when they lose any poll, they express strong objection to the use of EVMs for the voting process. This shows their double standards,” Shinde said in response to questions posed by media persons on SC turning down the demand for use of ballot papers in the poll process in place of EVMs.
On Friday, the SC rejected all petitions seeking 100% cross-verification of votes cast using Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) with Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips. Earlier this month, the SC had also ruled out any possibility of returning to ballot paper, saying there was a huge drawback with that system and use of EVMs had stood the test of time with rising voting percentage reflecting voters’ faith in them.
Shinde said, “They [opposition parties] often give advice to the Supreme Court. And now they are speaking against the judgment of the apex court. In case of judiciary, placing some wrong demands before it and then insisting that the judgment should be favorable sets a dangerous trend for the country’s democratic process.”
Shinde, who was in Shirdi to address party workers and devised the campaign strategy for Mahayuti candidate Sadashiv Lokhande, also predicted Mahayuti would get a majority share of votes in the second phase of the elections. “People have decided to vote for development in this election. The work done by PM Modi during the past 10 years is visible everywhere. People have seen the developmental works under Congress govts in 50 years and under the Modi-led govt in 10 years,” he said.
