The Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader and Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi on Saturday slammed the Election Commission of India (ECI) amid the ongoing blame game over Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde) candidate Ravindra Waikar’s victory by just ’48 votes’ in Mumbai North West Lok Sabha seats, amid allegations of foul play.
Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate Amol Kirtikar claimed that on the counting day, he had demanded recounting of the votes. However, it was not allowed. Whereas, a worker from another party had written a complaint to Vanrai police about a person using a mobile phone, which is banned inside the counting centres.
Now, according to a Mid-Day report, police have registered an FIR against Mangesh Vasant Pandilkar, a relative of Ravindra Waikar, for using a phone. They have also booked Dinesh Gurav, for allegedly giving his device to Pandilkar. Gurav was an ENCORE (poll portal) operator with the Election Commission (EC).
Following that, Chaturvedi shared a report about an FIR against a relative of Ravindra Waikar, and slammed the ECI. “The art of stealing a victory. Collusion and unfair practices to rob @AmolGKirtikar of @ShivSenaUBT_ of a victory in Mumbai North West, with a winning margin of merely 48 votes,” said Chaturvedi in a post on X.
“It is a shame that ECI instead of working on these lapses with alacrity, is choosing to delay the process,” she added.
Tagging ECI handle, Chaturvedi also said that the suburban district collector, by denying the CCTV footage to the candidate, is trying to avoid accounting for the lapses during the counting process.
Earlier this week, speaking to Indian Express, Amol Kirtikar stated that even on the counting day he had raised questions about why the announcement and display of votes after each round stopped after the 19th round.”
Kirtikar also claimed that after the 26th round, Waikar was directly announced as the winning candidate. The Sena (UBT) candidate had also sought CCTV footage of the spot where counting was done to ensure that there was nothing amiss. However, Mumbai Suburban District Collector has informed Amol Kirtikar that it is not possible to provide the requested CCTV footage/video coverage related to the vote counting.
“This result is absolutely unacceptable to the Shiv Sena (UBT). The role of the election officer, Vandana Suryavanshi, is highly suspicious, and we will soon be taking this matter to court,” Kirtikar told Lokmat News.
