HC Finds No Material To Believe Maharashtra Polls Were Rigged

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has held that there is nothing on record to show any fraud in Maharashtra assembly elections. Dismissing a plea to declare the Maharashtra election null and void, a division bench held that the case of the petitioner appears to be “quite absurd to say the least”. The court also held that the use of EVMs does not take away “free and fair elections” in any manner. Prakash Ambedkar, who appeared as a lawyer for the petitioner in the case, criticised the HC for overlooking the concerns raised in the petition.

The bench of justices Girish Kulkarni and Arif Doctor dismissed the petition on Wednesday with observation that it did not impose any cost on the petition even though the petition warranted dismissal with cost.

A detailed order copy, which became available later, revealed the court’s scathing remarks against the petitioner. Referring to the petitioner’s contention that EVMs should be discarded and replaced by ballot papers, the bench noted, “Such a plea of the petitioner, appears to be in absolute desperation. This more particularly in view of the settled principles of law on the use of EVMs which are held to be legal and valid by the Supreme Court in a very recent decision of the Supreme Court in Association for Democratic Reforms vs. Election Commission of India & Anr. (supra).”

The bench also observed that in the absence of any tangible material acceptable in law, it cannot discern any fraudulent voting as claimed by the petitioner.

The petition argued that there were unsubstantiated 76 lakh votes cast on the election day after 6pm, which was the official deadline and such votes were illegal and should not have been counted. The plea also cited a reply received to an RTI query that the Election Commission did not have any information about the protocols followed by the election officers while allowing people to vote after 6pm. On these grounds, the petitioner urged the court to declare the results of the elections of each Assembly Constituencies issued by the Returning Officers as null and void.

However, the bench held that the petitioner’s claims were made on the basis of a limited material and on the face of it appeared to be “absurd”.

“The hearing of this petition has practically taken the whole day leaving aside our urgent cause list, and for such reason the petition would certainly warrant dismissal with cost, however, we refrain from doing so,” the bench said in its order.

Reacting to the HC order on Thursday, Mr. Ambedkar said, “While the court has a duty to examine such matters, it appears to have overlooked the concerns raised. This is not our personal dispute. If there is no document regarding the voting after the time has expired, doubts arise.”

Mr. Ambedkar also said that his party will now take the issue to the Supreme Court. “We will present the same facts before the SC. The HC has not examined the issues that we have raised,” he said.

The ‘Mahayuti’ led by the BJP had swept the Assembly election held in November last year by winning more than 230 out of total 288 assembly seats. The results were shocking as the ‘Mahayuti’ had lost badly in the Lok Sabha election held five months earlier, when it won only 17 out of 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

The Congress and other opposition parties have alleged fraud in preparing the voter list and use of EVMs. They have accused the EC of rigging the elections to benefit the BJP.