Ex-BJP ally RSP joins opposition chorus, blames EVMs for defeat in Maharashtra polls
Mumbai (PTI): The Rashtriya Samaj Paksha (RSP), a former ally of the BJP-led Mahayuti, on Saturday joined the opposition parties in raising doubts about the electronic voting machines (EVMs) in the recently held Maharashtra elections.
RSP chief Mahadev Jankar alleged that his party's votes were transferred to Mahayuti candidates during the November 20 polls, which saw the ruling alliance record a landslide victory.
The Mahayuti, comprising the BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP, won 230 out of 288 seats, while the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) bagged 46 seats. Following the poll drubbing, the opposition parties have alleged irregularities in the functioning of EVMs and called for the use of ballot papers.
Talking to PTI, Jankar said, "EVMs can be hacked. I am also an engineer. If democracy has to be kept alive, we need to switch to paper ballots."
He also alleged that the RSP votes got transferred to Mahayuti candidates.
Jankar claimed Sunil Bandgar, the party's candidate from the Akkalkot assembly seat, got zero votes from his village and questioned how the candidate could not get his own vote.
Bandgar received just 1,312 votes.
As per the seat-sharing arrangement for the assembly polls, the BJP had left the Gangakhed seat for the RSP, but the party rejected the alliance. It fielded 93 candidates and won one seat.
Jankar had contested the Parbhani Lok Sabha seat as part of the NDA.
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Notices issued to Himachal conductor, driver for anti-Rahul Gandhi audio clip playing in govt bus
Shimla, Nov 30: After finding itself in soup over a CID enquiry on "missing samosas", the Himachal Pradesh government is again in a tight spot for issuing notices to a state roadways conductor and driver after an audio clip with defamatory remarks against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was allegedly played in their bus.
A man in his complaint to the Chief Minister's Office said defamatory words were used against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav and other leaders in an audio clip which was played in the Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) bus plying between Shimla and Sanjauli on November 5.
In a letter to the conductor and driver of the bus on November 25, the HRTC sought explanation from them. The letter went viral on the internet.
Talking to reporters on Friday, HRTC Managing Director Rohan Chand Thakur said a routine complaint was received from a customer after which a fact finding enquiry was initiated. The enquiry was closed as the allegations were found baseless.
However, the wording of the explanation sought could have been better and the officers have been verbally conveyed to improve in the coming times, he added.
The defamatory words were allegedly used in a debate being played in the audio clip.
Reacting sharply to the letter, BJP MLA from Dharamshala, Sudhir Sharma, said the government should appoint marshals to stop audios being played in buses.
"Such decisions of the government are damaging the reputation of the state government as well as the state," he added.
Earlier, the state CID department had ordered an internal enquiry on the samosas which were brought for Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu during a function and by mistake were served to the his security staff. A senior police official had termed the faux pas as an anti-CID and ant-Government act.
