Shiv Sena-UBT to move court against Mumbai North West election results

Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) has decided to move court against Shiv Sena's Lok Sabha victory in Mumbai North West constituency. Sena-UBT has claimed that its candidate Amol Kirtikar won the poll by over 650 votes and Election Commission of India officials have 'stolen' the mandate by declaring Shiv Sena's Ravindra Waikar as the winner.

The constituency was in news after a tabloid claimed that Waikar's kin had a phone that 'could unlock EVMs'. The newspaper retracted the story after ECI pointed out loopholes in the report.

"Till 19 rounds there was transparency in poll process. But after that the constituency's returning officer did not give us any detail of votes polled. The RO was frequently getting phone calls, there was pressure on her from the state government," said Sena-UBT's Anil Parab at a press conference, where Aaditya Thackeray was also present. Parab said 17C and 17C(2) forms have not been given to them. "We kept asking for the forms, we were not given... According to our records, our candidate received 650 more votes than the rival candidate. We are also being denied CCTV footage of counting process," Parab said.


ECI has denied Sena-UBT's charges and said entire process was transparent. "We have signed signatures of their counting agents on Form 17C and have complied with all ECI guidelines. There has been no lapse in our procedure at all. They can file an election petition, the papers can be verified, as per ECI guidelines... CCTV footage as well as documents can be made available after a court order," said additional chief electoral officer Kiran Kulkarni.