The Bombay High Court Tuesday issued a summon to BJP MLA Siddharth Shirole in connection with an election petition that challenges his victory in the November 2024 Maharashtra Assembly election.
The election petition, filed by Congress leader Datta Bahirat, sought to declare the Shivaji Nagar legislator’s win as invalid.
Apart from Shirole, the plea has named Election Commission of India (ECI) and its various officers as respondents, who have all been issued summons by the court on Tuesday.
Shirole won his second term from Pune’s Shivaji Nagar in 2024 and is the son of former Member of Parliament Anil Shirole. Shirole had won his seat by a huge margin as he garnered 84,695 votes while his challenger Bahirat got only 47,993 votes.
Bahirat’s plea states that he was shocked by the defeat margin as it was “an impossible thing to happen in this election”.
Expressing disbelief, Bahirat, who had been a corporator earlier, claimed that independent experts had put him ahead of the race, riding on a strong anti-incumbency wave against Shirole.
The plea alleges that the election of Shirole was “heavily affected by manipulation in the process of voter registration and in the electoral rolls.”
The plea states that the total number of voters in the constituency as of January 1, 2019 for Legislative Assembly Elections was 3,05,587 and for the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections it was 2,73,092. Thus, the number of voters was reduced by 32,495, noted the plea.
The plea further added that there was an increase of 22,025 votes in the 2024 Legislative Assembly Elections as against 2019. “The lead of Shirole in this election is 36,702. Thus, this fluctuation in the votes has materially affected the election,” stated the plea.
An RTI was filed to understand the fluctuations but no reply has been received so far, stated the plea.
Bahirat also alleged that there were last minute additions to voters list, citing Maharashtra Congress leader Nana Patole-led designation visiting the central poll body on November 29, 2024 to flag serious concerns identified in the voters’ data for Maharashtra polls.
The plea stated that Patole never received a “specific answer” to his representation.
Shirole and the election commission will now have to reply to multiple allegations, including EVM tampering, that has been levelled in the plea.
The court is due to hear the petition in March.
