‘Not possible to manipulate EVMs in our country’: Ajit Pawar

Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar on Saturday backed the use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in the electoral process in the country and said that he has "full trust" in it and it is not possible to manipulate it.

Pawar said that the people who lose the elections start blaming the EVMs and fail to accept the mandate of the people.

Backing the EVM, the Maharashtra Leader of Opposition said that had the machines been faulty, there would not be governments of various opposition parties in numerous states of the country including West Bengal and Telangana."I have full trust in EVM personally. If EVMs were faulty, then we would not have governments of opposition parties in states like Chattisgarh, WB, Rajasthan, Punjab, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. It is not possible to manipulate EVMs in our country. It is a big system altogether, lots of checks and balances are involved," Pawar said while speaking to the media."If somehow it is proven that EVMs were manipulated, then there will be big chaos in the country. I don't think anyone would dare to do such things. Sometimes some people lose elections but they think that they can't lose it, then they start putting allegations about EVMs but in reality, it is the actual mandate of the people," he added.

Praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his leadership, Pawar said that under him, the Bharatiya Janata Party returned to power in 2019 and he continued to become popular despite various remarks against him.

"Under PM Modi's name, the party came to power in 2014 and reached sever remote places. After winning, a lot of statements were made against him but he got popular and under his leadership, BJP won in various states and repeated the same in 2019. If this is not the magic of PM Modi then what is? As far as education in politics is concerned, it is considered to be not much of importance," the Maharashtra LoP said.

Earlier today, NCP chief Sharad Pawar reiterated his remark on the Adani issue and said there are more important issues such as price rise and farmers' issues that the Opposition should raise instead of giving undue importance to the report by the US short-seller.

"Nowadays, the names of Ambani-Adani are being taken (to criticise the government) but we need to think about their contribution to the country. I think other issues such as unemployment, price rise, and farmers issues are more important and should be raised by the Opposition," the senior Opposition leader said. Addressing a press conference on Saturday, after his explosive interview with a television news channel, Pawar said there is "no need" for a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the Adani issue as the Supreme Court-appointed committee will be more reliable and unbiased in its probe into the claims made in the report against the Indian conglomerate.

"There is a certain structure to a JPC. If a JPC comprises 21 members, 15 of them will be from the government side, as the other parties can only have a maximum of 6 members. So, in all likelihood, the JPC report will only reaffirm the government's position in the matter. So, I think instead of a JPC, a Supreme Court-appointed committee will be more reliable and unbiased," Pawar said.

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