States » WestPosted at: Oct 29 2026 10:29PM


BJP says Congress lacks public trust regardless of ballot papers or EVMs

Mumbai, Oct 29 (UNI) BJP Maharashtra chief spokesperson Navnath Ban on Thursday said the Congress lacks public trust irrespective of whether elections are conducted using ballot papers or Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), citing the party's performance in the recent graduates' and teachers' constituency elections.
Addressing a press conference at the BJP's state headquarters, Ban said the Congress had contested 28 seats in graduates' and teachers' constituency elections conducted using ballot papers across the country but won only one seat, that too on second-preference votes.
He said Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, along with Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut, had repeatedly demanded elections through ballot papers.
Ban urged Rahul Gandhi to accept the people's verdict instead of repeatedly raising the issue of ballot papers.
He also said the results reflected the continued strength of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Referring to the Maharashtra Legislative Council elections, Ban said better coordination among Mahayuti allies could have helped the BJP win the Pune graduates' constituency and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) retain the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar teachers' constituency.
In Pune, Shiv Sena's official candidate Mangesh Chivte had filed his nomination for the teachers' constituency, but the party later withdrew his authorisation form and extended support to independent candidate Sachin Sanap, Ban said.
Sanap secured around 16,000 votes, while BJP candidate Smita Jadhav lost the graduates' constituency by approximately 11,000 to 12,000 votes, he said.
Ban argued that teachers registered as graduates could vote in both constituencies and claimed that the votes secured by Sanap could have helped Jadhav win in the first round had they gone to the BJP candidate.
He alleged that the Shiv Sena's decision to support an independent candidate, despite not having an official candidate in the teachers' constituency after the withdrawal, contributed to the defeat of one of the alliance's candidates in Pune.
In Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Ban alleged that Shiv Sena leader Abdul Sattar had publicly opposed NCP candidate Satish Chavan, who was renominated by the party under the leadership of Sunetra Pawar.
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