Maharashtra : Cong's Digvijaya Singh alleges BJP manipulated polls via EVM

Veteran Congress Leader and Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament (MP), Digvijaya Singh has raised concerned over the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s victory in recent Maharashtra assembly election and alleged that the latter won the election by manipulating Targeted Polling Booths through Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

Congress leader Singh also claimed that the results of the Maharashtra elections unfolded exactly as the BJP wished, highlighting that they fielded 148 candidates and secured victory for 132 of them, with a success strike rate of 89 per cent.

"The results of the Maharashtra elections appeared whatever the BJP wanted. They fielded 148 candidates out of which 132 won, having a success strike rate of 89 per cent. If they (BJP) want, they can form a government even without SS (Shinde) and NCP (Ajit Pawar). BJP has won this election by manipulating Targeted Polling Booths through EVM," the Congress leader said in a post on X on Monday.

He further spoke about the BJP's performance in Jharkhand assembly polls asking wasn't Maharashtra more important than Jharkhand for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

"People will ask how did they lose Jharkhand? Just think, isn't Maharashtra more important than Jharkhand for Narendra Modi and Amit Shah," Singh asked in the post.

Additionally, Singh further said that the INDIA alliance should hold an immediate discussion with the Election Commission of India (ECI) regarding its behaviour and the issue of conducting elections through EVMs.

Notably, the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance secured a landslide victory in the Maharashtra assembly polls by winning 230 (BJP-132, Shiv Sena-57, NCP-41) out of a total of 288 seats.

The Mahayuti alliance comprises Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde), the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) suffered a major setback. The Shiv Sena (UBT), led by Uddhav Thackeray won only 20 seats; Congress managed 16, and the NCP (SCP) led by Sharad Pawar won just 10 seats.

The BJP demonstrated an impressive strike, winning 132 out of the 148 seats it contested in Maharashtra. The party's allies, the Shiv Sena and NCP factions, also performed well.

The Maharashtra assembly elections were held on November 20, and the results were declared on November 23.

While in Jharkhand, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) won 34 seats, with its allies winning 22 seats. Among the allies, the Congress won 16 seats, RJD four seats, and CPI-ML two seats.

The BJP won 21 seats, and its allies AJSU, Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), and JD-U won one each.

The JMM-led alliance retained power in Jharkhand, where assembly polls were conducted in two phases--on November 13 and November 20.