Smarting from the crushing loss in Maharashtra, months after the Haryana debacle, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge today protested against the use of voting machines or EVMs and suggested a return to ballot paper.

“We should all unite and move forward together and push them aside. I do not wish to speak about elections, but I would surely say the votes of all the poor and oppressed communities are going to waste. They should all demand voting by ballot paper,” the 82-year-old Congress chief said speaking at the ‘Samvidhan Rakshak Abhiyaan’ function at Talkatora stadium in Delhi.

“Let them keep EVMs with them. We don’t want EVMs, we want voting on ballot paper. Then they will know what their position is and where they stand,” he said referring to the BJP.

The demand comes on the same day the Supreme Court dismissed a petition seeking to go back to ballot paper voting in elections in the country, saying allegations of tampering with voting machines is raked up only when people lose polls.

Mr Kharge also called for a campaign on the scale of Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra for return to the ballot paper.

“From our party, we should start this campaign to make everyone aware that they should want ballot paper back. We will speak to other political parties also,” Mr Kharge said, urging Rahul Gandhi to launch a movement.

“We should start a campaign like Bharat Jodo Yatra to bring back the ballot paper,” he stressed.

Earlier today, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress chief Nana Patole refused to accept the Maharashtra Assembly election results, saying that the “EVM issue” is not being taken seriously.

The Congress managed to win just 16 seats in the Maharashtra polls, while the BJP scooped up 132 seats, emerging the single largest party and is set to form the government. 

“Whatever election results have come, they are not acceptable to anyone, not even to the people of Maharashtra,” Mr Patole told news agency ANI.

Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena won 57 seats while Uddhav Thackeray’s Sena faction secured 20 seats. Veteran leader Sharad Pawar’s party managed to win only 10 seats while his nephew Ajit Pawar-led faction of the Nationalist Congress Parry won 41 seats. 

“So we have brainstormed on this issue and if you see social media in Maharashtra today, the public says that the government has not come with our votes, so the Congress party has always respected the sentiments of the public,” he told the news agency.

He said that no one is listening to the problems raised by the people of alleged mismatch of votes, leaving a mass movement to be the only option left for them.

“No one is listening on this (EVM issue), we also went to the Supreme Court, they said to prove it. Public sentiment says that we give our vote to X but it is being marked in the name of Y, so no one is listening to the problems. So it seems except a mass movement there is no other way,” he added.

In the Haryana state polls in October, which the Congress was widely expected to win, but did not, the party had alleged tampering of EVMs in some seats where machines with varying battery strength gave out different results.

Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar had underlined that the voting machines are safe and robust, questioning if there is any example anywhere in the country where there is so much thrust on disclosure and participation.

The EVMs are not connected, hence they can’t be hacked into, the top poll officer had explained.

Mumbai:

Sixteen senior Maharashtra Congress leaders have written to party chief Mallikarjun Kharge demanding that its Mumbai unit chief Varsha Gaikwad be replaced to strengthen the party ahead of upcoming state poll.

The leaders complain that Ms Gaikwad, who recently won the Mumbai North Central Lok Sabha seat, does not have the time to work at the organisational level and have objected to her style of functioning, NDTV has learnt.

Mumbai North Lok Sabha seat’s Congress candidate Bhushan Patil has also claimed he received no help from the city party unit.

These leaders, in a letter dated June 16, have sought time from the Congress leadership to discuss rejuvenation of the party in Mumbai ahead of the assembly elections, and the Mumbai civic polls which are overdue.

Signatories of the letter include Rajya Sabha MP and Congress Working Committee member Chandrakant Handore, former city party chiefs Janardhan Chandurkar and Bhai Jagtap, senior leaders Naseem Khan, Suresh Shetty, Madhu Chavan, Charansingh Sapra, Zakir Ahmed and Maharashtra Congress treasurer Amarjit Manhas.

“Recently, at a protest in connection with the UGC-NET exam chaos, Gaikwad did not call all party leaders at the city unit office. Hence they had to stage a separate protest in suburbs,” reported news agency PTI citing a source. 

“It is now 13 months she is the city unit head, but she has not spearheaded any substantial activity to galvanize the party cadre,” the news agency reported claimed citing the unnamed source.

A meeting related to Maharashtra is scheduled in Delhi on Tuesday.

In the 2019 Maharashtra assembly polls, the Congress won only 4 of the 36 seats in Mumbai.

During the recently-concluded Lok Sabha elections, the Congress secured 1 of the 2 seats it contested in the city.

Rahul Gandhi likes to keep it simple. Walking briskly, with a hand in his trouser pocket, the 53-year-old Congress leader answered the “why white T-shirt” (now his trademark style) question during a campaign trail in Karnataka.

“Transparency and simplicity. And I don’t really care much about clothes. I just prefer it simple,” said the Congress leader as he got into a chopper.

Mr Gandhi, a former party chief, played interviewer to Congress chief M Kharge and Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. This was part of a “light rapid fire” and a video chat between the three leaders.

Asked by Mr Gandhi about what seems good and what’s bad during the campaign, Mr Kharge said: “There’s nothing bad. It’s good because we are doing all this for the country. The one who’s spoiling the country, when we work to stop him, we feel good. At least, we are doing something good for the country.”

Turning to Siddaramaiah in the car, he continued the “light rapid fire”, asking the Congress veteran what will he choose, power or ideology.

“Ideology,” said the veteran, explaining, “It’s because ideology is always important. You have to place before the people the ideology of the party and the programmes of the party.  And if you are in power, you have to tell people our achievements. Then only the people will definitely appreciate our stand and they will bless us.”

At this point, the Congress chief, sitting in the front, joins the issue.

“Power comes and goes. But staying true to ideology is a bigger thing. Ourt leaders have sacrificed for this,” said Mr Kharge.

“I agree with both Kharge ji and Siddaramaiah ji. In my view, you cannot go as a large organisation, you cannot go towards power without a clear understanding of the ideology. And we have to convince the people of our ideology which is pro-poor, pro-women, plural, treating everybody equally. So the political fight at an organisational level, at a national  level is always about ideology,” Mr Gandhi concurred.

Mr Gandhi, who made his poll debut in 2004, was asked what’s the best part about campaigning.

“When it ends,” pat came the reply.

“See, for me, this campaign has been going on for now almost 70 days. Bharat Jodo Yatra was not a campaign but in terms of working it was harder than this. Non-stop. So I have been going for quite a long time. You know this is the strange thing. I quite like the speeches. It makes one think about what the country needs,” he said explaining further.

Karnataka has 28 Lok Sabha seats and elections in the state are being held in two phases. Voting for 14 seats concluded on April 26 and the remaining 14 seats will undergo polling on May 7. The counting of votes is scheduled for June 4.

In 2019, the BJP almost swept the state by winning 25 out of 28 seats, while Congress and JD-S – who were alliance partners in the state – could only win one seat each.

This time, the BJP and JD-S are in coalition with the former fighting on 25 seats, while the latter is contesting three seats.