"No point making allegations, should approach ECI or courts": Ajit Pawar hits back at Thackeray's EVM remarks

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], December 7 (ANI): Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and NCP chief Ajit Pawar hit back at Shiv Sena UBT Aaditya Thackeray's allegations questioning the legitimacy of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), stating that the opposition should approach the Election Commission or the courts if they have concerns.

"There is no point in making such allegations here. They (the opposition) should go to the Election Commission and if they do not get justice there, they should approach the court," said the newly sworn-in MLA Ajit Pawar.
This comes after Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray announced that the party's winning MLAs will not take the oath of office on Saturday during the ongoing special session of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly.
Thackeray raised doubts about the legitimacy of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs)."Today we have decided that our (Shiv Sena UBT) winning MLAs will not take the oath. If this was the mandate of the people, people would have been happy and celebrated it. However, there was no such celebration or enthusiasm from the public. We have doubts about EVM," Aaditya Thackeray said.
Shiv Sena UBT leader Aaditya Thackeray along with party workers also paid tribute to Shivaji Maharaj at the Vidhan Bhavan complex.
The three-day special session of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly is underway.
Earlier, speaking to ANI, Shiv Sena leader Uday Samant said, "Today's priority is the oath-taking ceremony of 288 MLAs and holding the election of the speaker of the Maharashtra Assembly. After that, our 3 leaders CM Fadnavis and two Dy CMs Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar will together decide on when to do the cabinet expansion and which departments we will be getting. Our leader is Eknath Shinde, we have given him the authority to take all the political decisions to him, and all our MLAs will agree with whatever decision he takes."
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy Chief Ministers Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar took oath as members of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly on Saturday.
Before taking oath, CM Fadnavis along with DCMs Shinde and Pawar earlier this morning paid tribute to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, at the Vidhan Bhavan complex in Mumbai on day 1 of the Maharashtra Assembly special session.
As the oath ceremony of MLAs is underway at the Vidhan Bhavan, NCP MP Sunil Tatkare said, "The oath ceremony of all the MLAs is taking place. With the amount of love the public has given to the Mahayuti alliance, we will work for the development of Maharashtra."
Maharashtra Deputy CM and NCP chief Ajit Pawar earlier said, "Today I paid tribute to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj along with Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis, Deputy CM Eknath Shinde and other leaders of Mahayuti. We want to work following the ideology of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and BR Ambedkar. The voters of Maharashtra have given us a lot of support and I express my gratitude to them."
The election for the new Maharashtra Assembly Speaker is expected to be held on Monday, December 9.
Senior BJP MLA Kalidas Sulochana Kolambkar was sworn in as the pro-tem Speaker of the Assembly by Maharashtra Governor CP Radhakrishnan on Friday, a day ahead of the three-day special session of the Assembly.
Devendra Fadnavis took oath as Maharashtra Chief Minister for the third time in an event held in Mumbai on Thursday and was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with several leaders of the alliance as well as celebrities from across fields. Deputy Chief Ministers Ajit Pawar and Eknath Shinde also took oath during the occasion.
The Maharashtra Assembly Election 2024 witnessed a decisive victory for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Mahayuti alliance, securing a landslide win with 235 seats. The results marked a significant milestone for the BJP, which emerged as the single-largest party with 132 seats.
The Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party also made notable gains, with 57 and 41 seats, respectively.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) suffered a major setback with Congress winning just 16 seats. Its alliance partner, Shiv Sena (UBT), won 20 seats, while the NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) secured only 10 seats. (ANI)