Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], December 23 (ANI): On the reports that Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s instructed the national leaders of the BJP to target securing more than 50 percent of votes in the 2024 general elections, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut expressed the view that achieving this objective is possible, provided Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) are in use.
“If EVM is there then everything is possible. They have a lot of confidence in EVM but we do not. We have said in the INDIA meeting in Delhi that even if the voting is being conducted through EVMs, the VVPAT (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail), the slip that comes out of EVM should come in our hands and we will put that in the box,” said Sanjay Raut reacting to PM Modi‘s statement.
He emphasized the demand for a complete counting of VVPATs, asserting that the BJP would not agree to ballot papers due to the potential for their defeat. “Our demand is a hundred per cent counting of VVPATs as BJP will not agree to the ballot paper because they will lose. There are no EVMs in the whole world. You (BJP) consider yourself a great power, the countries that consider themselves a great power like China, America and Russia do not have electronic voting machines there. I want to tell PM Modi that if you believe in that level, then like those countries, hold the elections on the ballot here too and we challenge that not just 300 seats but we will go beyond 500,” he added.
During the press conference, Raut also responded to Union Minister Pralhad Joshi’s remarks regarding the suspension of opposition MPs. He argued that the opposition’s role is to question the government, and if answers are not provided, disturbance is a democratic right. “Prahlad Joshi has been in the opposition when BJP was not in power and he should have knowledge about how the work of the House is done, especially about the opposition. I think he would have this knowledge and that is why he has been made the Parliament Affairs Minister. The job of the opposition is to ask questions to the government, this is what parliamentary democracy is. If you do not want to answer our questions, we will stand by, we will disturb you and this right is given to us by democracy,” said Sanjay Raut.
“I have worked with Sushma Swaraj when she was leader of the opposition, I have worked with Arun Jaitley and with multiple leaders in the Rajya Sabha and their way of working was also the same so I don’t know which definition of Parliamentary democracy Prahlad Joshi carrying with him,” he added.
Raut highlighted that asking Union Home Minister Amit Shah about the security breach in Parliament is a valid inquiry related to national security.
“There is nothing wrong if our MPs and Congress leaders had asked Amit Shah to answer in the Parliament how people entered the parliament building in such a way, this is a matter of national security,” said Sanjay Raut.
In the meeting on Friday, PM Modi told all the officials to work in mission mode. The officials were asked to express their views on social media and to share more data related to the Central Government’s welfare schemes for poor through social media. Give positive answers according to the facts of negative propaganda by opposition parties.
BJP General Secretary Vinod Tawde put forward the first topic in the meeting: that work has to be done at the booth level to increase 10% votes in the Lok Sabha elections. Speaking on this, the Prime Minister said that if our schemes reach the poor, youth, farmers and women in the right way, it will help us. The focus should be on the states where the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra is being organised. A special campaign should be run to make people understand the difference between the UPA government and the NDA government.
To increase votes in favour of the BJP, focus should be on booth management, added Prime Minister Modi. He further claimed that the Home Minister gives statements about the security breach outside but he is unwilling to talk about it in Parliament. Earlier on Friday, Union Minister Pralhad Joshi launched a scathing attack on the opposition leaders over the suspension of MPs from both Houses of Parliament and said that they themselves said to suspend them.
“They themselves came and said to suspend them. Congress Party has such a low-level strategy,” said Pralhad Joshi. 100 MPs were suspended from Lok Sabha, and another 46 from Rajya Sabha for unruly behaviour, disrupting proceedings by showing placards and raising slogans over the breach issue.
The security breach happened on the anniversary of the 2001 Parliament terror attack. Two people–Sagar Sharma and Manoranjan D–jumped into the Lok Sabha chamber from the public gallery during Zero Hour, released yellow gas from canisters and shouted anti-establishment slogans before being overpowered by the MPs. Outside it, in another incident, two protestors — Neelam (42) and Amol (25) — protested outside the Parliament with similar gas canisters. (ANI)
