Top INDIA bloc leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, Sharad Pawar, and others, plan to meet EVM skeptic villagers of Markadwadi village in Malshiras taluka of Maharashtra, who were prevented by the police from holding mock repoll using ballot papers and ballot box, sources said here on Friday.

It is learned that Congress leaders have discussed the issue with Nationalist Congress Party (SP) MLA Uttamrao S Jankar to plan the dates for the visit, even as at least two more EVM-skeptic villages in Akola district called Tuljapur and Beltala, plan to hold similar mock repolls using ballot papers on December 15.

Advertisement

According to sources, a long march will be taken out against EVMs from Markadwadi in the Solapur district in which NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi are expected to participate. A few days ago, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) staged a protest in Solapur by smashing EVM machines.

In this context, it may be recalled that Maharashtra’s Chief Electoral Officer S Chockalingam had warned of “strict legal action” against anybody spreading false claims or insinuations regarding tampering of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), after MVA leaders had alleged EVM malpractices during the recent Maharashtra assembly elections.

However, Chockalingam failed to respond to mobile phone calls and text messages sent to him by The Statesman on Friday, December 6, enquiring if he would take action against the three villages which are set to organise mock repolls using ballot paper.

In a related development, Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) leader Prakash Ambedkar called for a mass movement against EVMs across Maharashtra.

The movement will be intensified in a phased manner starting with an anti-EVM signature campaign which will be carried out across Maharashtra from December 3 to December 16.

Meanwhile, in Mumbai, anti-EVM activist and Supreme Court lawyer Supreme Court Advocate Mehmood Pracha of an NGO called ‘Mission Save Constitution’ has announced plans to visit and help all villages that wish to hold mock repolls using ballot papers.

“We will help anybody who wants to conduct mock polls. If they need anything, we will go there to help them talk to the authorities so that they don’t file false FIRs against them or pressure them in any way or impose curfew on them. If need be, we will file a case in the court and get an order to restrain the administration and the police from interfering in this perfectly legal exercise, which is protected by Part 3 of the constitution. I congratulate the people of Markadwadi who are the true champions of saving democracy,” Supreme Court Advocate Mehmood Pracha, who is an anti-EVM activist, said here on Friday.

Advocate Pracha insisted that it is illegal for the police to register cases against villagers who conduct mock repolls with ballot papers. “The villagers are absolutely well within their legal and constitutional rights to hold such events. Taking action against them is a crime. We intend to help them legally and If necessary, we will file a case so that every village and housing society is allowed to hold such mock polls using ballot papers. I don’t understand what the Election Commission’s problem is. The only problem seems to be that their anti-constitutional activities will get exposed,” he added.

He said he plans to launch a campaign to gather lawyers and intellectuals outside the Supreme Court. “We intend to hold protests with people sitting in front of the offices of all District Magistrates. We will demand that the judiciary must decide all cases regarding electoral malpractices within six months, as prescribed by Section 86 of the Representation of People’s Act,” Advocate Pracha said.

Pracha said he has enough evidence regarding electoral malpractices with him to get the courts to set aside the elections of 150 assembly seats to which elections were held in Haryana as well as Maharashtra. “We are sure that we will get the election results of 150 assembly seats set aside by the court. There will be re-election in 150 seats based on the evidence I have. I am sure that who stood as candidates for these assembly elections would have some more evidence,” Advocate Pracha said.