Fadnavis nomination: HC to examine plea for seizure of poll documents

It seems the troubles of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis are not over on his election affidavits when the Nagpur bench of Bombay high court on Thursday said that they are examining the grievances of the petitioner regarding the prayer that direction should be issued to seize all papers, materials filed by Fadnavis and CCTV footages of the Returning Officer of Nagpur south-west constituency.

Responding to a writ petition filed by Satish Ukey, that the returning officer’s mobile sets and all documents related to the Chief Minister Fadnavis be seized, a Division Bench of Bombay High Court in Nagpur comprising Justices Z A. Haq and Pushpa Ganediwala adjourned the court and fixed the matter for further hearing on Monday, October 14.

The government pleader Sumant Deopujari submitted that the election authorities are duty bound to preserve the CCTV recording and he requested time till Monday for time till Monday to take further instructions from government officials. Fadnavis has filed a caveat before the Nagpur bench pleading that he be heard in any writ petition challenging the clean chit given by returning officer (RO) of South-West constituency Shekhar Ghadge on his nomination form.

“The returning officer did not upload Fadnavis affidavit till 5.30 PM on website on October 4, the last day of nomination when Fadnavis filed his nomination. With the help of police, he closed corridor which enters to RO’s office till 6 PM. This corridor was opened only after complaints from other candiadates. This clearly showed that RO has helped CM Fadnavis to remove errors from his affidavit. Even though no correction can be done or no documents can be accepted after the 3 PM, additional documents from Fadnavis were accepted. Despite the demands from all candidates, the punchnama was not done while putting seal on Fadnavis’s submitted documents,” Ukey has alleged in his petition.