"Maharashtra won't have a Leader of Opposition": BJP's Chandrashekhar Bawankule

Mumbai: As the Mahayuti swept assembly elections, Maharashtra Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Chandrashekhar Bawankule on Sunday lashed out at Congress, announcing that there will be no Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the state legislature.
Bawankule further said that Maharashtra not having a Leader of Opposition (LoP) was a result of "wrong deeds" committed by Congress and the opposition parties.
"Maharashtra will not have a leader of the opposition (LoP) this time. This is the result of the wrong deeds of Congress and the opposition. They spread fake narratives in Lok Sabha Elections and duped voters at that time. So when people came to know about this in assembly polls, voters kicked them out as they did in Haryana," BJP Maharashtra chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule said.
This comes after senior BJP leader Bawankule chaired a meeting for the party's membership campaign.
The Maharashtra BJP president resolved to give a push to include new members in the party with maximum numbers in the coming days.
"Due to elections in Maharashtra, our membership drive was stopped. Now we have restarted it with an aim of 1.5 crore new members in Maharashtra. Sunil Rane in Mumbai, Rajesh Pandey in western Maharashtra and other leaders will lead the membership drive," Bawankule said.
Shiv Sena Eknath Shinde's faction will also hold its legislative party meeting on Sunday evening to formally elect their leader. The meeting will happen in the Taj Lands End Hotel.
Of 288 assembly constituencies, Mahayuti secured 231 seats in the recently concluded assembly polls in Maharashtra. Earlier on Saturday evening, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde called it a "record-breaking victory" for the alliance.
Meanwhile, Karnataka Home Minister and senior Congress leader G Parameshwara said his party leaders were surprised over the information they got about Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) being selectively "hacked."
Parameshwara, who is also the All India Congress Committee observer of Maharashtra elections, said that party leaders including former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel discussed the EVM issues and are going to appeal to the Election Commission of India (ECI).