Shiv Sena MLA Suhas Kande moves Bombay HC against ECI holding his Rajya Sabha vote invalid

Suhas Kande. Pic/Official Twitter account

Days after his vote in last week's Rajya Sabha elections was declared invalid by the Election Commission of India (ECI), Shiv Sena MLA Suhas Kande on Monday approached the Bombay High Court to seek quashing of the decision.

Kande, in his petition, said the ECI's decision discharging his vote has caused grave prejudice to his dignity and reputation. He has claimed that on June 10, when the Rajya Sabha elections were held, he had gone to the electoral hall (at the Vidhan Bhawan in Mumbai), exercised his right to vote, made the necessary endorsement on the ballot paper and as per rules, came out and showed the ballot paper to Shiv Sena leader Sunil Prabhu, who had issued a whip for the polls.

"It is alleged by MLA Yogesh Sagar that the petitioner had shown his ballot paper to the whip of another political party. This is not true and the petitioner had shown his ballot paper to only Sunil Prabhu and not to any other political party," the petition said.

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Sagar ought to have raised this objection at that time and not after Kande left the electoral hall, the petition said.

It further claimed that the election officer in-charge of the poll station had given his ruling that the allegations made by Sagar were not factually correct and that Kande's vote was valid.

"However, later in the evening, several leaders of the BJP met with the ECI raising the same grievance. No notice was given to the petitioner (Kande) and without seeking Kande's response, the ECI thought it fit to interfere with the decision taken by the election officer and held Kande's vote as invalid," the petition said.

In the fiercely-contested polls for total six seats from Maharashtra on Friday, Shiv Sena's Sanjay Pawar lost to BJP's Dhananjay Mahadik- its third nominee. The Shiv Sena and its allies NCP and the Congress won one seat each.

The BJP won all the three seats it had contested.

(With inputs fromn PTI)