BJP will win majority of LS seats in Bengal in 2019: Javadekar
Kolkata, June 2: Pointing out that the BJP has made massive progress in West Bengal politics by emerging as the prime opposition party in the recent elections here, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar on Saturday claimed the saffron outfit would capture the majority of the Lok Sabha seats in the state in the 2019 general elections.
"Politics in Bengal was lopsided. The Communist party ruled here for many years before Trinamool came to power. Even a few years back, BJP was the fourth or fifth largest party here. The biggest thing is we have successfully emerged as the main opposition here," Javadekar told media persons.
"Even in the rural areas, where we did not have even 50 seats earlier, we have captured 5,600 seats in the last election (rural body election). In 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Bengal will see majority of seats going in BJP's favour," he said.
The BJP Rajya Sabha MP from Madhya Pradesh also accused the Bengal government of taking up a four-pronged strategy to rig the recent state rural polls and said the electorate would give the ruling party a befitting reply.
Referring to the killings of two BJP activists in Bengal's Purulia district in the last one week, he also accused the state government of not investigating these murder cases and thereby promoting the culture of political murders in the state.
"The government of West Bengal took up a four-pronged strategy to rig the three-pronged election. In the rural body elections they did not allow nominations to be filed, campaigns to be held, voters to vote or the electoral officers to count (votes) in many places," he accused.
"Political murders are going on day in and day out in West Bengal. Nineteen workers of BJP have been killed, the latest cases being those of Dulal Das and Trilochan Mahato. They were hanged. This is inhumane. The Bengal government is not investigating the murders at all. People will definitely teach a lesson to those who indulge in political murder culture," Javadekar said.
He rebuffed the claim by some local leaders that the two killings in Purulia were the outcome of infighting between the district BJP unit and the Bajrang Dal activists.
Responding to a question on the status of the ongoing CBI probe into the Saradha ponzi scam in which a number of Trinamool Congress leaders were named, the Union Human Resource Development Minister claimed everyone involved in the fraud will go to jail.
"We are not silent. The probe is on. The result will come out and everyone involved in Saradha scam will go to jail," he added.
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Sanjay Raut demands re-election, alleges irregularities in EVMs during Maharashtra polls
Mumbai, Nov 25: Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut on Monday demanded a re-election in Maharashtra using ballot papers, claiming there were irregularities with the electronic voting machines (EVMs).
Talking to reporters, Raut alleged several complaints about EVMs malfunctioning and questioned the integrity of the recently held elections.
The BJP-led Mahayuti won 230 out of 288 seats in the assembly elections, while the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi managed 46 seats, with Shiv Sena (UBT) winning just 20 out of 95 seats it contested.
"We have received nearly 450 complaints regarding EVMs. Despite raising objections repeatedly, no action has been taken on these issues. How can we say these elections were conducted fairly? Hence, I demand that the results be set aside and elections be held again using ballot papers," Raut said.
Citing some instances, he said a candidate in Nashik reportedly received only four votes despite having 65 votes from his family, while in Dombivli, discrepancies were found in EVM tallies, and election officials refused to acknowledge the objections.
The Sena (UBT) leader also questioned the credibility of the landslide victories of some candidates, saying, "What revolutionary work have they done to receive more than 1.5 lakh votes? Even leaders who recently switched parties have become MLAs. This raises suspicions. For the first time, a senior leader like Sharad Pawar has expressed doubts about EVMs, which cannot be ignored."
Asked about the MVA's poor performance in the elections, Raut rejected the idea of blaming a single individual.
"We fought as a united MVA. Even a leader like Sharad Pawar, who commands immense respect in Maharashtra, faced defeat. This shows that we need to analyse the reasons behind the failure. One of the reasons is EVM irregularities and the misuse of the system, unconstitutional practices, and even judicial decisions left unresolved by Justice Chandrachud," he said.
Raut stressed that though internal differences might have existed within the MVA, the failure was collective.
He also accused the Mahayuti of conducting the elections in an unfair manner.
"I cannot call the elections fair given the numerous reports of discrepancies in EVMs, mismatched numbers, and vote irregularities across the state," Raut said.
