Maharashtra : Uddhav Government may propose law for ballot papers in elections

Mumbai : Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker Nana Patole on Tuesday directed the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly to enact legislation to give voters in Maharashtra the option to cast their votes through ballot papers in addition to EVMs in local body and assembly elections.

All political parties, except the BJP, have repeatedly objected to electronic voting. Seeing this, the issue will come up again due to the suggestion of the Speaker of the Assembly.

On Tuesday, Assembly Speaker Patole held a meeting at the Vidhan Bhavan to give voters of the state the option of ballot paers along with EVMs. During this, he instructed Rajendra Bhagwat, Secretary of the Legislature Secretariat, Baldev Singh, Chief Electoral Officer of the State and Bhupendra Gurav, Secretary, Department of Law and Justice,to prepare a proposal to provide voting facility through ballot with EVMs under Article 328 of the Constitution of India.

He said that this will enable voters to vote as they wish. Also, the voting percentage will also increase. In fact, Satish Ukay of Nagpur has filed a petition with the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly under Article 328 of the Constitution to make a law in relation to providing ballot options in the state. The Speaker had called a meeting to discuss this.