Mysuru, July 27: Lok Sabha Member Shobha Karandlaje said that it was not fair to demand separate status for North Karnataka as it would not solve all problems.

After offering special pooja to Goddess Chamundeshwari here on Friday, she said that “if we need justice in Krishna, Mahadayi, Cauvery river distribution, the people of the state should come together and fight. After dividing the Andhra Pradesh, both Andhra and Telangana states have become weak. Such a situation should not come to us. The BJP would be with the people of North Karnataka. But it was not acceptable to call bandh demanding separate North Karnataka state, she said.

The JDS-Congress coalition government has not yet taken off. The confusion was still there in the farm loan waiver decision. After the coalition government came to power, 20-30 farmers have committed suicide, she said.

In  democracy, Chief Minister was like a king. The Chief Minister should respond to the problems of people the entire state. But the Chief Minister has restricted himself to a few districts. Because of this reason, the separate state voice was being stronger, she said.

 

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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.