Maharashtra: After complaining about the election process and the Electronic Voting Machies (EVMs), the opposition MVA members have boycotted the oath-taking ceremony in Maharashtra.  Talking about the decision, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray today said that his party MLAs will not take oath, and called for boycotting the swear in ceremony. He said that the outcome of the elections were not the mandate of the people and therefore people are not celebrating it, while asserting that the opposition has doubts about the EVMs.

Congress state chief Nana Patole said that voters do not feel they have voted their government, noting that the people started voicing their concerns from Markandwadi and now all about about the stolen votes of the people. he also criticised the government for using force to prevent villagers from clearing their doubts over the EVMs, emphasising that it was the job of the government to settle the issue. “This is whey we will not take oath as new MLAs because they have won election by misusing EVM,” Patole was heard saying in a video released by news agengecy PTI.

Notably, some members of the MVA including the Samajwadi Party (SP) MLAs have resisted Shiv Sena’s call for boycotting the swearing in ceremony, and took oath in the assembly. Maharashtra party chief Abu Azmi said that SP is withdrawing its support from the MVA coalition, citing its  objection over Uddhav Thackeray Shiv Sena leader’s comment regarding the Babri Masjid demolition.

In the recently concluded Maharashtra Assembly elections, the BJP-led Mahayuti coalition secured 230 out of 288 seats, with BJP winning 132, Shiv Sena 57, and NCP 41. On the other hand, Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) was able to manage only 46 seats in which Shiv Sena (UBT) secured 20, Congress 16 and NCP (SP) 10.

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“Today we have decided that our (Shiv Sena UBT) winning MLAs will not take oath. If this was the mandate of the people, people would have been happy and celebrated it, but people did not celebrate this victory anywhere. We have doubts about EVM,” news agency ANI quoted as the junior Thackeray is saying.

Thackeray said that they boycotted the oath-taking ceremony today as democracy is being murdered by the use of EVMs. “This (the results of the Maharashtra Assembly elections) is not the mandate of the public it is the mandate of EVM and the Election Commission of India..,” he said.

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The Lok Sabha elections held few month earlier showed the opposition coalition including the Shi Sena UBT gaining edge over the rival parties, projecting a comfortable victory in the assembly elections. However, the result showed the MVA getting decimated, with the Congress also suffering its record debacle in the state. Many of the high profile candidates lost the polls.

The allegations raised by the opposition parties and some media outlets include discrepancies int he number of votes polled and counted, and the confusions in the sudden rise in voters’ turnout percentage after the polling closed. There were also additional claims by candidates from some constituencies, and voters from some villages, flagging their doubts over the poll outcome.