Bombay HC dismisses plea on Maharashtra polls, slams it as waste of court's time

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday dismissed a plea alleging widespread irregularities in the voting process during the Maharashtra Assembly elections that brought the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led alliance to power.

A bench comprising Justices G S Kulkarni and Arif Doctor said the petitioner, Chetan Ahire, had made "farcical claims" without presenting any supporting evidence.

Ahire, represented by advocate Prakash Ambedkar-who also heads the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi-had claimed that 75 lakh votes were cast after 6 PM, the official closing time for polling. He also alleged discrepancies between polled and counted votes in nearly 95 assembly constituencies and sought that the elections be declared "null and void."

He further requested that the High Court direct the Election Commission of India to disclose the exact number of tokens distributed to voters after 6 PM at each polling station.

After hearing arguments, the court rejected the petition.

"We have no manner of doubt that this petition needs to be rejected. Hence, it is rejected. The whole day of this Court was wasted while hearing this petition. We are of the view that costs should be imposed, but we refrain from doing so," Justice Kulkarni said.

Referring to the allegation of votes cast after 6 PM, the court observed:

"Unless evidence shows that post-6 PM polling specifically aided the winning candidate, the petition lacks substantial merit."

The bench also noted that there was "nothing on record" to show that any polling station witnessed an untoward incident during voting.

On June 23, the court had remarked that similar voting patterns were seen in previous Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, but those were not challenged.

Following the order, Prakash Ambedkar said on social media platform X that he would respond a day later, after reading the court's reasoning in full.