SC verdict on Haryana sarpanch poll shows BJP will cease to exist if EVM votes counted properly: Sanjay Raut

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut. (File photo/PTI)

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut on Friday said that the Supreme Court verdict on the counting of votes polled through EVMs for the sarpanch post of Haryana’s Bavanu Lakhu village indicates that the BJP “will cease to exist” if EVM votes are properly counted nationwide.

Speaking to reporters in Nashik, Raut referred to the case of Mohit Kumar, who had lost the sarpanch election in the village and pursued the matter through the courts for about three years until it reached the Supreme Court.

“Mohit Kumar believed in what he claimed, that the presiding officer had transferred the votes meant for him into the name of the opponent. The SC got the votes counted. When we lose elections, we keep crying in the name of the government and the Election Commission. Instead, what we need to do is challenge the decision in the court of law and stand by what we claim. If this happens, this will be a problem for the BJP and it will cease to exist,” Raut said.

He further said, “This indicates that Narendra Modi was elected prime minister only through the EVM scam. The same is the case with Devendra Fadnavis, who was elected Maharashtra chief minister.”

Raut also criticised the BJP for dividing people on religious and caste lines. “India is known as the spiritual country. Still, BJP has turned it into a fanatic one, and people are now being divided based on faith, religion, and even caste,” he said.

On Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Swadeshi” pitch, the Shiv Sena (UBT) leader remarked, “He adopted what Congress has been preaching all these years, and Modi has started following in Congress’s footsteps.”

On local body elections, Raut said his party will fight in alliance with the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). “Shiv Sena (UBT) and MNS would be contesting elections together even outside Mumbai, like in Nashik, Thane, and Kalyan Dombivali corporations, for which talks are being held,” he added.