PUNE: Minister of State for Social Justice Ramdas Athawale on Sunday said his party would not mind contesting elections through ballot paper if the Election Commission approves the same. He was responding to MP Udayanraje Bhosale who doubted elections conducted through electronic voting machines (EVM).
“Such concerns have been raised earlier too. When we are advancing towards technology and opting for EVMs, some people want the ballot papers to come back. There were issues of bogus voting with ballot papers and so we had to move to EVMs. If NCP thinks that by pressing the ‘watch’ (the NCP’s symbol) the vote will be cast in favour of ‘lotus’ (the BJP’s symbol), then how come NCP MP Supriya Sule was victorious?” asked Athawale, who was addressing a press conference at Council Hall at Bundgarden Road.
He was in the city to attend a review meeting of schemes of the Central government. Speaking on the reservation issues of Vimukta Jati and Nomadic Tribes (VJNT) and Dhangars, the minister said he supports the idea of special reservation. “This time we have a budget of Rs 76,000 crore and we hope this will benefit various schemes. We will also invest in a war memorial at Koregaon-Bhima,” he added.
Responding to the ongoing spar for the chief minister’s post between the BJP and Shiv Sena in the State, Athawale said there is no harm in dividing the tenure of the CM’s post for two years each for BJP and Shiv Sena, and one year for the Republican Party of India (RPI).
He said that in the Vidhan Sabha elections, RPI will be contesting separately.
