Raj Thackeray should not buy Congress' agenda of blaming EVMs for defeat: Bawankule

Mumbai, Jan 31 (PTI) Maharashtra BJP president Chandrakant Bawankule on Friday said Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray should not buy Congress's agenda of blaming electronic voting machines (EVMs) for its poll defeat.

Talking to reporters in Amravati, the Revenue Minister criticised the Congress, saying the party does not mature even after its poll loss and keeps blaming the EVMs.

"For the Congress, the EVMs were right wherever it won polls...It should introspect. When we lost 31 seats in Maharashtra in the Lok Sabha polls, we did not blame the EVMs but introspected. We worked on the 29 points that led to our defeat. They will win if they introspect," Bawankule said.

The BJP respects Raj Thackeray, he said.

"A matured person like Raj Thackeray will not buy Congress' agenda of blaming EVMs for the defeat," he said.

Addressing MNS leaders and workers in Mumbai on Thursday, Thackeray expressed suspicion over the election results. He sought to know how Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) won 41 seats in the assembly polls when it had bagged only one seat in the Lok Sabha elections held months prior to that.

"MNS had fielded sitting MLA Raju Patil from Kalyan Rural constituency in Thane district. There are around 1,400 voters in Patil's village, he has always received votes from there. But this time, he did not get even a single vote. How is that possible?" he said.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said many people in the country are putting forth their views on EVMs and his party was doing the same in Maharashtra.

"But now Raj Thackeray, who shares good ties with the BJP and Eknath Shinde, says that there is something suspicious about the election process...If Raj Thackeray has raised this question then the Election Commission of India and Devendra Fadnavis should respond to it," he said.

In the November 2024 assembly polls, the Mahayuti alliance retained power in Maharashtra, pocketing a whopping 230 of the 288 assembly seats. The BJP won 132 seats, the Shiv Sena 57 and the NCP got 41 seats.

In the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), the Shiv Sena (UBT) won 20 seats, the Congress 16 and the NCP (SP) candidates won 10 seats. PTI PR NP