MVA, BJP claim poll misconduct by MLAS

Election commission officials reviewed videos of 3 ruling coalition, 2 opposition MLAS cast their vote

MUMBAI: The declaration of Rajya Sabha election results in Maharashtra was held up on Friday after the ruling Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition parties and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) approached the Election Commission of India (ECI) to disqualify the votes of certain legislators from each other’s camps on account of alleged rule-breaking during the polling process.

The ECI held up counting soon after all 285 legislators finished voting at 4 pm in the Vidhan Sabha, and commission officials reviewed video footage till late Friday evening. The counting had not begun till the time of going to print.

The BJP alleged three MLAS of the ruling MVA parties — cabinet ministers Jitendra Awhad (Nationalist Congress Party) and Yashomati Thakur (Indian National Congress), besides Shiv Sena legislator Suhas Kande — violated the model code of conduct.

“We have filed an appeal before the Election Commission of India, seeking that their votes be held invalid,” BJP leader Parag Alavani said after a delegation of BJP leaders led by union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi raised objections.

The MVA, in turn, handed a letter signed by Shiv Sena’s Anil Desai, Nationalist Congress Party’s Jayant Patil and Congress’ Balasaheb Thorat, to the Election Commission of India (ECI) seeking that the votes of senior BJP MLA Sudhir Mungantiwar and independent MLA Ravi Rana, who supported the BJP candidate in Friday’s voting, be declared invalid. State Congress president Nana Patole also wrote to the ECI making the same plea.

The MVA claimed that Mungantiwar “compromised” and “vitiated” the voting procedure by “openly displaying his ballot paper to persons other than his own party election agents and/ or violating other procedures.”

The letter also stated that Rana, who supports the BJP, displayed a religious book to influence other voters in violation of election code of conduct. “”Ravi Rana, Independent MLA also compromised and vitiated the voting procedure by openly displaying Hanuman Chalisa, a religious book and sought to influence others voters and/or violated the secrecy of the ballot, while completing his voting procedures, which is grossly violative of laid down rules of election code of conduct.”

The MVA alleged that the returning officer did not take cognisance of the complaint after the objection was raised by Congress election agent and others.

BJP legislators Atul Save and Alavani, in turn, raised objections and demanded three votes of MVA legislator be declared invalid alleging that Awhad and Thakur handed over their ballots to their party agents instead of only showing them the ballots, while Kande showed his ballot to two different agents.

“As per the rules, a legislator has to show the ballot paper to their polling agent, but Jitendra Awhad and Yashomati Thakur gave the ballot paper in the hands of their respective polling agents,” he said.

“Suhas Kande showed his ballot paper to the polling agents of two other parties, which is also against the rules. Therefore, we have written to the returning officer against Awhad, Kande and Yashomati Thakur demanding their votes be made invalid. The entire process is shot on video, it should be looked into which will show the lapse in procedure and a hearing should be taken,” Alavani said.

As per the rules, the legislator is required to mark his preference for the candidates, show the ballot to his or her own party agent and then put it into the ballot box. Voters are not allowed to display their ballot slips to people other than the party’s polling agents as per rules and in 2017, when a controversy has erupted during the election for seats from Gujarat, the ECI had ruled that the vote of candidate who was found to have violated a rule would not be counted.

All parties dismissed the allegations against their MLAS.

“I was standing behind while Jayant Patil was sitting ahead. Does he (Parag Alavani) have eyes at the back of his head to see? Their objection does not matter... It only shows how scared they are [of losing],” Awhad said.

“As soon as they (BJP) came to know that their candidates are going to lose the election battle, they have adopted a strategy of creating confusion. I can say with full confidence that all our four candidates are winning the poll,” Yashomati Thakur said.

Senior BJP leader Girish Mahajan denied the MVA’S allegations. “Sudhir Mungantiwar did not hand over the ballot paper to anyone unlike MVA legislators. The camera footage is clear... he just went a few steps ahead and showed it. (The polling agent Chandrashekhar) Bawankule did not touch the ballot paper,” he said.

“This is not a case of the secrecy being violated. There is no rule pertaining to this,” Mahajan said about Rana’s actions.

“A highlight was the way Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray strategised together. They wanted to send a message that the MVA was strong as it was on day one and they stood together. Another outcome of the election was that the three parties worked in tandem. It will have an impact on the legislative council elections as well as the local body polls,” Hemant Desai, political analyst, said.