The Bombay High Court has issued summons to newly elected Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Waikal in an election suit filed by Amol Kirtikar.

The Bombay High Court on July 29 issued summons to newly elected Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Waikal in an election case filed by Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate Amol Kirtikar challenging Waikal’s election as a candidate from Mumbai North West constituency in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

A single-judge bench of Justice Sandeep Marne issued summons to Waikar and 19 other accused in the case, who are remaining candidates from the same constituency, and advertised the matter for September 2.

Kirtikar, who lost to Waikar by just 48 votes, alleged that there were several irregularities on the day of counting of votes. He further alleged in his petition that the Election Officer did not allow his application for a recount. He also alleged that the use of mobile phones was allowed in the vote counting area. Waikar secured 452,644 votes while Kirtikar got 452,596 votes. Kirtikar demanded that he be declared the winner from the constituency and Waikar’s victory be declared null and void.

“The highhanded haste and blatant arbitrariness of the Election Officers is evident from their complete disregard for the provisions of the 2023 Handbook, which provides for the right of a candidate to request a recount, especially in cases where the difference in votes between the first two candidates is narrow. In the present case, the difference could not have been closer than one vote,” Amit Karande, the lawyer representing Kirtikar, said in the petition.

“Systematic effort”

“There has been a coordinated effort to defeat the election petitioners,” Karande alleged. [Amol Kirtikar]”At the end of counting of EVM votes, despite all difficulties, he had obtained one more vote than the candidate returned, while the votes submitted as per Form 17-C (Part I) No. were 333. There were various manifest and gross negligence on the part of the Election Officers deployed for carrying out the counting process, resulting in materially affecting the outcome of the election.”

A similar petition was filed against Waikal in June this year by Bharat Shah, a Hindu Samaj Party candidate from the same constituency. Following Shah’s petition, the High Court last week ordered him to file an election petition and seek hearing in an appropriate forum. Two similar petitions have been filed against Waikal so far.