PUNE: Social activist Baba Adhav on Saturday withdrew his hunger strike to safeguard constitutional principles after Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray promised to scale up agitation for a fair election procedure. Earlier, Adhav had raised doubts over the fairness of assembly poll results and criticised govt for excessive use of money power in the presence of NCP chief Ajit Pawar.
Pawar, who also visited Mahatma Phule Wada to request Adhav to call off his hunger strike, defended the use of EVMs and criticised the opposition for raising doubts over the election outcome. “Before the assembly poll, the Lok Sabha election was held, in which MVA won 31 seats, while our alliance managed to secure only 17 seats. At that time, we did not raise any doubt against EVMs and accepted the mandate. Now, if the people of the state changed their mind and voted in favour of Mahayuti, is it our fault?” he said.
While he defended the use of EVMs, Ajit Pawar agreed there is no harm in discussing the issue. “I agree that in democracy, we can discuss the issue (related to EVMs) and if there is no solution, the aggrieved parties can approach the Supreme Court. Even the Supreme Court has rejected the plea against the use of EVMs. It is weird the opposition sees no problem in EVMs when they win and blame it when they face defeat,” he said.
Adhav, though, said, “The difference in the Lok Sabha and state assembly poll results is astonishing. It is nothing short of a miracle and therefore, I doubt the fairness of the process. When I pressed the button on the EVM machine, I realised that there is a possibility of manipulation. While raising the doubts, I understand that the responsibility of proving the manipulation lies upon me and some technical experts will throw light on it, but the process lacked fairness,” the 95-year-old said. Thackeray and NCP (SP) state president Jayant Patil, who too visited him, promised to take up the agitation at the state level. Accepting Thackeray’s request, Adhav ended his three-day-long fast.