The Bombay High Court on Wednesday dismissed a writ petition filed by a voter seeking to declare the upcoming November 2024 Maharashtra Legislative Assembly elections null and void, terming it a “gross abuse of the process of law.”
A division bench comprising Justices GS Kulkarni and Arif Doctor upheld the objections raised by the Election Commission of India (ECI), stating, “Such objections are valid and would persuade us to summarily dismiss this petition on the ground that the petition amounts to a gross abuse of the process of law.”
The petition was filed by Chetan Ahire, a voter from the Vikhroli constituency, who alleged large-scale procedural irregularities and illegal voting after the official polling deadline of 6 pm.
Ahire, represented by advocate and Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi chief Prakash Ambedkar, claimed that more than 76 lakh votes – 6.8 percent of the total-were cast after the deadline without proper records or ECI oversight.
However, the court ruled that Ahire lacked the legal standing to challenge the outcome of the entire state election, particularly in the absence of a valid election petition under the Representation of the People Act.
The bench observed that the petition relied solely on third-party information obtained through the Right to Information (RTI) Act and on speculative claims based on a newspaper article. It also noted that Ahire had made no prior representation or demand for redressal before the ECI.
“There is not a scratch of legal injury suffered by the petitioner,” the court said, adding that he had no locus standi to challenge elections across all 288 constituencies based on vague and unsupported allegations.
The court further declined to entertain Ahire’s plea to scrap electronic voting machines (EVMs) and return to paper ballots, reiterating the Supreme Court’s position that EVMs are legally valid and essential for conducting efficient elections.
– Ends