On 5th July 2023, Rohit Pawar, Sharad Pawar’s grandnephew and Nationalist Congress Party MLA from the Karjat-Jamkhed assembly constituency of Maharashtra invented the EVM (electronic voting machine) angle in the recent defection in his party. He implied that the Bharatiya Janata Party orchestrated this rift in the Nationalist Congress Party as it aims to secure more seats from Maharashtra in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections which will be preponed by at least 4 months because of the EVM repairing and manufacturing.
He interacted with reporters as he reached the YB Chavhan center for the NCP MLAs meeting called by Jitendra Awhad, whip of the Sharad Pawar faction of the NCP.
Rohit Pawar said, “Four days ago officials received instructions to begin checking Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) or start manufacturing EVMs. This shows that Lok Sabha elections may be held in December 2023. The Maharashtra Assembly election, which is slated for October 2024, may be held alongside the Lok Sabha polls.”
#WATCH | On Maharashtra political situation, NCP MLA Rohit Pawar (grand nephew of NCP chief Sharad Pawar) says "The checking reports of EVMs are taken 5-6 months before Lok Sabha or state elections and 4 days ago some Maharashtra officials have been instructed to start repairing… pic.twitter.com/PSqJHKFLoN
— ANI (@ANI) July 5, 2023
Rohit Pawar added, “The checking reports of EVMS are taken 5-6 months before Lok Sabha or state elections and four days ago some Maharashtra officials were instructed to start repairing and manufacturing EVMs. This indicates that Lok Sabha elections can be conducted in December 2023.”
#WATCH | On Maharashtra political situation, NCP MLA Rohit Pawar (grand nephew of NCP chief Sharad Pawar) says "EVM machines are checked 5-6 months before Lok Sabha or state elections and 4 days ago Maharashtra officials have been instructed to start manufacturing EVM machines.… pic.twitter.com/rOzXHYx2lJ
— ANI (@ANI) July 5, 2023
Rohit Pawar claimed that the main reason behind this move is the loss of the BJP in the Karnataka elections.
“This is happening because of BJP’s loss in the Karnataka elections as the same can happen in Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and other states. BJP tried to break NCP and Shiv Sena keeping in mind the forthcoming elections,” Rohit Pawar said.
NCP crisis after break up, each faction calls its own meeting
Meanwhile, the crisis in NCP is escalating with the two factions in Maharashtra calling separate meetings on Wednesday. NCP suffered a split on Sunday with Ajit Pawar joining the Eknath Shinde-BJP government along with eight other MLAs.
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) led by Sharad Pawar has moved a disqualification petition against the nine MLAs to Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar.
Ajit Pawar and Chhagan Bhujbal along with Dilip Patil, Hasan Mushrif, Dhananjay Munde, Dharmaraobaba Atram, Aditi Tatkare, Sanjay Bansode, and Anil Patil joined Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis Maharashtra government on Sunday.
‘EVMs can be controlled by towers near polling stations’: Sharad Pawar in 2019
It is notable that Sharad Pawar is known for blaming the Electronic Voting Machines for the electoral defeat of his party in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. On 9th May 2019, Sharad Pawar raised concerns over the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs) in polls, claiming he himself had once seen during a presentation that a vote cast for his party went in the BJP’s favour.
Taking the fantasies about EVM hacking to a new level, Pawar had claimed that EVMs can be ‘controlled’ and manipulated via ‘towers’ located near polling stations.
Even after the results of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections were declared, Sharad Pawar continued to blame EVMs in June 2019. Instead of humbly accepting the public mandate, Sharad Pawar resorted to scaremongering, taking the beaten-to-dust argument of ‘EVM issues’, claiming that the seemingly calm population may soon take the law into their hands if they realise that their votes are not going to the candidate of their choice.
In a bid to avoid accountability for his party’s poor performance, Pawar raised a new theory to disparage the mandate the country has given. Pawar alleged that EVM and VVPATs had no problem but the machines with the electoral officers that is last counted had problems. Pawar further added that he is going to the depth of the issue, discussing with the technicians and experts and the opposition members.
Sharad Pawar is also known for appealing to the voters to attempt double voting and bogus voting. On 23rd March 2023, while addressing a meeting of Mathadi workers in New Mumbai, he asked the Mathadi workers to wipe off the voting ink on their fingers, go to their hometowns and vote again there. Sharad Pawar said this in an attempt to appeal to his supporters to take advantage of the multiple phases of voting and commit double voting or bogus voting in favor of the Nationalist Congress Party.
Now, Sharad Pawar’s grandnephew Rohit Pawar has come ahead to invent the EVM angle in the recent defection in his party. Rohit Pawar is the son of Sharad Pawar’s nephew Rajendra Pawar. Rajendra Pawar is the son of Sharad Pawar’s brother Appasaheb Pawar. Ajit Pawar is another nephew of Sharad Pawar. He is the son of Sharad Pawar’s other brother Anantrao Pawar. Ajit Pawar’s son Parth Pawar is also active in politics and he lost the 2019 Lok Sabha election from the Maval constituency of Maharashtra.
