Mumbai: Congress has demanded that the civic body elections in Mumbai and other cities in the state be conducted through ballot paper instead of electronic voting machines (EVMs).
Bhai Jagtap, president of Mumbai Regional Congress Committee (MRCC), wrote to chief minister Uddhav Thackeray and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar on 5 May demanding that polling for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and other civic bodies in the state and the 2024 Lok Sabha elections be conducted using paper ballots.
He added that this should be done considering the doubts about the integrity and security of the EVMs. Globally, countries have shifted to using ballot papers instead of EVMs in elections, he wrote.
Jagtap also alleged a scam in the BMC’s project to set up sewage treatment plants at six locations — Worli, Bandra, Dharavi, Versova, Ghatkopar and Bhandup.
He said that in 2020, the BMC had decided to set up these plants at an estimated cost of ₹16,412 crore, but scrapped the tender as the bids were around 30 to 60% higher. However, he charged, that in 2022, the civic body had decided on a ₹23,447 crore cost for it, which was 42% higher than the 2020 estimate.
Jagtap said that this was much higher than the cost of similar projects implemented in Delhi and Andhra Pradesh.
Jagtap warned that the Mumbai Congress would soon approach the Supreme Court (SC) against this “scam” and said that an expert committee be appointed by the apex court to finalise these rates.