Maharashtra elections: Cops shut down mock re-poll in Solapur village, warn of force

MARKADWADI, SOLAPUR DISTRICT: The first mock re-election of its kind, meant to question the authenticity of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), was called off in Markadwadi village in Malshiras assembly constituency in Solapur district on Tuesday. The villagers cancelled the exercise after the police and local administration bore down on them, saying they would use force if they went ahead with their plan.

Around 200 police personnel descended on this small village, 11 km from Malshiras, and charged 17 people for flouting prohibitory orders and “spreading rumors and fear in the community”.

Markadwadi is a quiet village, where 75% of the population is of the Dhangar community. Most of the villagers are farmers, the main crops here being sugarcane and maize, with dairy supplementing their income.

The village, with 2,476 registered voters, made headlines a couple of days ago, when it declared it would conduct a mock poll using ballot paper on December 3, as the electoral results of the village in the recent assembly election were contrary to those expected. Although the candidate they traditionally supported, Uttam Jankar (NCP-SP), won the Malshiras assembly seat, defeating sitting BJP MLA Ram Satpute, the results showed that the losing candidate had polled more votes than Jankar in Markadwadi village. Claiming that EVMs are unreliable, the villagers were determined to conduct a re-poll with paper ballots, echoing a claim the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) has been advancing following its shock defeat in the recent assembly election.

High drama began to unfold in Markadwadi on Monday, when the village turned into a virtual police camp, with 200 police personnel fanning out across the village. On Tuesday morning, all eyes were on a large pandal set up by the villagers opposite the Gram Panchayat office, complete with a ballot box and neatly printed ballot papers. But not a single ‘vote’ was cast.

Deputy superintendent of police, Naryan Shirgaonkar, arrived with a local administrative officer and warned the villagers against conducting the mock poll. Shirgaonkar also spoke to Jankar, who had been camping in Markadwadi since Monday. He said prohibitory orders had been issued, and if anyone attempted to participate in the mock poll, all the material would be seized and the police would force, if needed.

Jankar and the villagers met in the Gram Panchayat office and decided to call off their plan. The MLA claimed the threat of force betrayed the nervousness in the state government and administration, which were afraid that the mock poll would have “exposed the truth”, that EVMs could be tampered with, allegedly altering election results. “I have lost three elections from this constituency but didn’t once complain about the EVMs. This time, I won, but I don’t trust the numbers as the results in several villages were not in keeping with the usual trend and ground reality,” said Jankar.

But the mock poll was doomed from the outset. “It is an illegal exercise and we are here to take preventive action,” Shirgaonkar said. However, an official on condition of anonymity, said that police and local administration officials had told Jankar that if the mock poll took place, he and his supporters could be charged under Section 152 of the BNS. This section relates to provoking rebellion, separatist activities, and threatening India’s unity and sovereignty. Punishment includes life imprisonment. This, sources said, convinced Jankar and the villagers to drop their plan.

Meanwhile, police have filed an FIR against 17 people including the woman Sarpanch, Vijaya Markad. She claimed the villagers were shocked to learn of the results. “For the last two days, police have been warning us not to participate in the mock poll.”

Vijay Waghmode, 40, a farmer from Markadwadi, remarked, “Democracy is our right. We have doubts about the election figures from our village and will register our protest in another way. We are planning to march to the tehsil office,” he said.

Former sarpanch Namdeo Waghmode too said it was “impossible” for Jankar to fail to secure a lead in Markadwadi. “In previous elections, Jankar polled three to four times more votes than his rival candidates in our village. How could he have received fewer votes than his rival this time?” Another villager, Anna Pasare, a civil contractor, said the results in Markadwadi were exactly the opposite of the traditional trend, which has “cast doubts in the minds of the people”.

Kumar Ashirwad, district magistrate of Solapur, said around 70 policemen will continue to monitor law and order in the village. “During the polling and counting process, agents of all political parties were present, including those who now want to conduct this illegal poll. They did not raise any objection at the time. Moreover, this ballot-paper poll would have been illegal. Only the Election Commission of India has the authority to conduct a poll,” he said. He added that an FIR has been registered against 17 people and 100 to 200 other, unidentified persons for breaching prohibitory orders. These will remain in place as a precaution.