Bengaluru: MLA Govind Karjol stated that a Congress MLC Ivan D'Souza must be booked under the goonda act for speaking against the Governor. He urged for strict action against other Congress representatives for disrespecting state head during recent protests. He was speaking to media persons after lodging a complaint at the DGP office at Nrupatunga Road on Tuesday.
Accusing the Congress of misusing power to disrespect the Governor in a 'politically motivated protest', Karjol alleged that the protesters had beaten the Governor's photo with slippers and verbally abused him. "MLC Ivan D'Souza spoke against the Governor in a threatening tone. He said that a situation like Bangladesh would come to Karnataka too and spoke of barging into the Raj Bhavan to drive away the Governor. I suspect Ivan D'Souza of having links with Pak terrorists. I condemn his statement", he said.
ALSO READ: Governor can't 'pick and choose' and be "selective", says CM on prosecution sanction against him
Vidhana Parishath Opposition leader Chalavadi Naryanaswamy said that they had reported alleged abusive statements issued by Ivan D'Souza, Zameer Ahmed, Krishna Byre Gowda and other Congress leaders.
BJP SC Morcha State President and MLA Cement Manjunath, MLA Avinash Jadhav, ST Morcha State President Bangaru Hanumanthu and ex-MLA Muniswamy were present.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
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.