Mumbai (Maharashtra): Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) MP Sanjay Raut on Sunday said that Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari must propose President's rule in the state because of the "mess" over the ongoing stalemate regarding Chief Minister post in Maharashtra. He reiterated his allegations against the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).
"Governor should propose the President rule here because of the mess that has happened here. This is wrong. People are watching everything. People know how the elections were conducted, EVMs main kaisi gadbadi hui (how the EVMs were hampered). We are trying to create a national movement over this," Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut told reporters.
The senior Shiv Sena (UBT) leader further said that the Eknath Shinde-led state government was against the constitution. The state government remained in power only because of the Supreme Court and former Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud, Raut said, adding that the caretaker government in Maharashtra is also against the Constitution.
"In Maharashtra, such a government was in power that ran because of the Supreme Court's protection and was against the constitution. DY Chandrachud is responsible for this. Now, this caretaker government is also against the constitution. It has been 10 days. They have a huge majority. BJP themselves have a majority but they haven't formed the government yet. They didn't even go to Raj Bhavan to stake claims to form the government. If we had been in the majority, they would have run every other day to stake a claim. What is happening? Bawakule (Maharashtra BJP president) is announcing that on 5th oath-taking ceremony will take place, is he the governor? Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Raut remarked.
"Caretaker government is against the constitution. No one has claimed to form the government till now. Who will be the chief minister? No decision has been taken on all this till now.
No one has met the governor till now for the formation of the government," Raut added.
Meanwhile, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP-SCP) leader Jitendra Awhad has raised serious allegations against the Election Commission of India (ECI), accusing it of erasing crucial data from the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) used in the recent Maharashtra Assembly elections.
The NCP-SCP leader questioned the handling of election data by the ECI, claiming that 46 lakh votes suddenly appeared in Maharashtra within 4-5 months following the Lok Sabha elections.
Earlier, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Chief Ajit Pawar on Saturday cleared the air and said that it has been decided in the meeting that the CM will be from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the remaining two parties will have Deputy Chief Ministers.
Speaking to the media, Pawar said, "During the meeting (Delhi meeting of Mahayuti leader) it was decided that Mahayuti will form the government with CM from BJP and the remaining two parties will have DCMs."
Notably, Congress-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) suffered a major setback in the recently held Maharashtra state elections as the party won just 16 seats out of 288 assembly segments while its ally Shiv Sena (UBT), led by Uddhav Thackeray, won 20 seats, and the NCP (Sharad Pawar) faction secured just 10 seats.
The BJP-led Mahayuti alliance emerged victorious with 132 seats, while its allies--the Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde and the NCP led by Ajit Pawar--secured 57 and 41 seats, respectively. (ANI)