Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Wednesday dismissed a petition seeking to declare the entire Maharashtra State Assembly elections held in November 2024 as null and void, terming the plea as “vague, absurd, and a gross abuse of the process of law.” The court also remarked that the petition deserved to be dismissed with costs but refrained from imposing any.
The court also rejected the prayer for scrapping Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in favour of traditional ballot paper voting stating that its use has been upheld by the apex court as well.
A bench of Justices Girish Kulkarni and Arif Doctor said: “We have no manner of doubt that this writ petition needs to be summarily rejected. It is accordingly rejected. The hearing of this petition has practically taken the whole day leaving aside our urgent cause list, and for such reason the petition would certainly warrant dismissal with cost, however, we refrain from doing so.”
The plea, filed by Chetan Ahire, a voter from the North East Mumbai Lok Sabha and Vikhroli Assembly constituencies, raised concerns over voting irregularities.
His advocates Prakash Ambedkar and Hitendra Gandhi. Submitted that around 76 lakh votes, nearly 6.8% of the total votes, were illegally cast after the scheduled closing time of 6pm on polling day, without any verifiable record from the Election Commission of India (ECI).
The petition was based on an RTI response received by one Delhi-based Venkatesh Nayak, allegedly at the behest of the petitioner, which stated that the ECI did not maintain booth-wise data for votes cast after 6pm. On this basis, the petitioner alleged “fraud on the Constitution” and claimed the legitimacy of the entire electoral process was compromised.
However, the court strongly rejected the claims, noting the petitioner lacked the legal standing to challenge the results of all 288 Assembly constituencies. “We wonder how the petitioner can have a locus standi to seek such wide, sweeping and drastic reliefs… That too on the basis of no cause of action as the facts clearly demonstrate,” the court said.
The bench observed that Ahire neither contested the elections nor made any representation to the ECI before approaching the court. It further criticised the reliance on an RTI response and a single newspaper article. “We are quite astonished as to how a writ petition can be filed on the basis of a single newspaper article…”
The court also firmly rejected the petitioner’s allegations of large-scale electoral fraud or irregularities during the late voting period, pointing out the absence of any credible, booth-level evidence.
“At every polling station, there are several precautions provided by the Election Commission of India (ECI) to strictly adhere to the fair procedure of elections,” the bench noted. “There is nothing on record to show that at any polling station in Maharashtra, any untoward incident or fraud had taken place.”
The court further criticised the demand for scrapping Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in favour of traditional ballot paper voting. “Although such farcical claims are made in the name of ensuring purity of the electoral process, the plea to discard EVMs appears to be made in absolute desperation,” the bench said.
It cited the Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Association for Democratic Reforms vs. Election Commission of India, which upheld the validity and legality of EVMs, reaffirming that their use does not compromise the conduct of free and fair elections. “The use of EVMs cannot be held to be a system which in any manner would take away free and fair elections,” the high court concluded.
“In the absence of any tangible material, acceptable in law… the petition appears to be quite absurd, to say the least,” the bench observed.
