MUMBAI: Hindu Samaj Party’s Bharat Khimji Shah, who contested from Mumbai North West constituency in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, filed an election suit in the Bombay High Court on Friday challenging Rabindra Waikal’s victory.
The petition cited concerns about the transparency of the electoral process and sought that Waikar’s victory be declared “null and void.” On June 4, the BJP’s Waikar was declared the winner by 48 votes over his nearest rival, Amol Kirtikar. Waikar received 452,644 votes. Shah received 937 votes out of the 954,939 votes polled.
According to Shah’s petition, he has gone into the “legality” of the counting of votes and urged the High Court to “declare as null and void the counting and announcement of the results of the 27th Mumbai North West constituency dated June 4, 2024”. The petition alleges that the mobile phone of a temporary Mumbai Suburban District Election Commissioner was used by unknown persons inside a polling station in Mumbai and the issue is whether it is permissible to use a mobile phone inside a polling station when the counting of votes is on. Shah said his “oral complaint” to the Election Officer fell on deaf ears and he was made a “mere witness” though it was later registered. The petitioner said he had also filed a written complaint with the police inspector on June 4. The police later investigated his complaint, according to the petition.
Shah had sought a high court order requesting the Election Commission to submit CCTV footage from the Goregaon polling station, alleging that the Election Commission’s primary responsibility is “to ensure transparency in the electoral process” but the commission has “miserably failed to comply with it both in letter and spirit.” The petition, filed through lawyer Asim Sarod, seeks directions to the Election Commission and the District Election Officer to conduct a thorough investigation into his complaint filed by the police under court supervision.
The petition cited concerns about the transparency of the electoral process and sought that Waikar’s victory be declared “null and void.” On June 4, the BJP’s Waikar was declared the winner by 48 votes over his nearest rival, Amol Kirtikar. Waikar received 452,644 votes. Shah received 937 votes out of the 954,939 votes polled.
According to Shah’s petition, he has gone into the “legality” of the counting of votes and urged the High Court to “declare as null and void the counting and announcement of the results of the 27th Mumbai North West constituency dated June 4, 2024”. The petition alleges that the mobile phone of a temporary Mumbai Suburban District Election Commissioner was used by unknown persons inside a polling station in Mumbai and the issue is whether it is permissible to use a mobile phone inside a polling station when the counting of votes is on. Shah said his “oral complaint” to the Election Officer fell on deaf ears and he was made a “mere witness” though it was later registered. The petitioner said he had also filed a written complaint with the police inspector on June 4. The police later investigated his complaint, according to the petition.
Shah had sought a high court order requesting the Election Commission to submit CCTV footage from the Goregaon polling station, alleging that the Election Commission’s primary responsibility is “to ensure transparency in the electoral process” but the commission has “miserably failed to comply with it both in letter and spirit.” The petition, filed through lawyer Asim Sarod, seeks directions to the Election Commission and the District Election Officer to conduct a thorough investigation into his complaint filed by the police under court supervision.
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