In a significant development in the Mumbai North West Lok Sabha constituency election dispute, the Bombay High Court has issued summons to Shiv Sena’s Ravindra Waikar. The summons comes in response to a petition filed by Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate Amol Kirtikar, who narrowly lost to Waikar by a mere 48 votes in the recent election.
Justice Sandeep Marne presided over the session, directing that Waikar and the other 19 candidates from the constituency respond to the court by September 2.
During the contentious election, Waikar, representing a faction led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, secured 452,644 votes against Kirtikar’s 452,596. Kirtikar, dissatisfied with the narrow margin and suspecting discrepancies, challenged the election results shortly after. His petition argues that the election should be declared “null and void” and seeks to have himself declared the winner.
Kirtikar’s plea raises serious allegations about the conduct of the election, particularly on the counting day. He claims significant errors and lapses occurred during the vote counting, including the improper acceptance of votes cast by 333 impersonators, which he alleges materially affected the election outcome. Moreover, Kirtikar has requested the court to review video recordings of the entire counting process to substantiate his claims of “high-handed hastiness and palpable arbitrariness” by the returning officer.
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This legal challenge is not the only one facing Waikar. Another petition was filed last month by Bharat Shah of the Hindu Samaj Party, who also contested in the same constituency. Shah’s grievances were heard by a division bench, which directed him to file a formal election petition for a detailed hearing.
