Maharashtra village plans a ‘re-election’ with ballot paper; police impose curfew

Markadwadi village in Maharashtra holds re-election using ballot papers due to distrust in EVMs, leading to a curfew.

Expressing distrust over the functioning of electronic voting machines (EVMs) in their village during the recent Maharashtra State Assembly election, people from Markadwadi, a small village in the Malshiras tehsil of Solapur district, have decided to hold a “re-election” using ballot papers on Tuesday (December 3, 2024).

However, the police have imposed a curfew in the village till December 5 to maintain law and order.

“As per the Constitution, the Election Commission has been entrusted with conducting these elections. This is nothing but a mock exercise now. The available legal remedy in case of doubts is an election petition,” a senior government official told The Hindu.

Despite winning with a margin of 13,147 votes in Malshiras, newly elected MLA Uttamrao Jankar of the Nationalist Congress Party (SP) had demanded that a voting exercise using ballot paper be conducted as he had failed to get a lead in the village of Markadwadi. He is of the view that the village has his most loyal voters, who had consistently given him a lead in the village in past elections.

This time, Mr. Jankar’s opponent Ram Satpute from the BJP received 1,003 votes whereas he only got 843 votes. The total number of voters in the village is about 1,900.

A village resident, seeking anonymity, said that it was unbelievable that Mr. Jankar did not get a lead in the village, given his popularity there. “There is also the caste equation. Jankar belongs to the Dhangar community, this village is also a Dhangar-dominated village. Villagers came together at the Gram Panchayat level and made an appeal to the Tehsildar to hold a re-election,” the resident said. Their request was turned down so the villagers have decided to conduct the exercise themselves.

However, a curfew has been imposed in Markadwadi village under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023. At least 50 police personnel have been deployed in the village. “We have taken preventive measures. We have also explained to the villagers about what is legal and illegal and the consequences of their actions. The prohibitory orders are in place; if people still come together then the law will be enforced,” Solapur Superintendent Atul Kulkarni said.