HC junks plea alleging bogus voters in Maha poll

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday dismissed a petition alleging bogus voters during the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections, saying it was nothing but “farcical claims made out of desperation”.

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“We wonder as to how the petitioner can have a locus standi to seek such wide, sweeping and drastic reliefs to question the entire elections of the state Legislative Assembly,” a Bench of Justice GS Kulkarni and Arif S Doctor said about petitioner Chetan Ahire, who claimed to be a “public-spirited” voter.

Noting that petitioner was not a candidate in the Assembly poll, the Bench concluded that he failed to provide any authentic information to back his allegations and claims. “It is a relief, too far-fetched, that too on the basis of no cause of action, as the facts clearly demonstrate,” it said.

Ahire had challenged the entire Maharashtra Assembly poll conducted by the Election Commission in November 2024 and wanted the same to be declared null and void. He claimed that around 6.8 per cent of the total votes (76 lakh) that were cast after 6 pm were illegal, as there is no data available about these voters with the EC. Since he was a voter, he was aggrieved by the “fraud” committed on the general public, he submitted.

However, the HC said, the petition appeared to be filed in “absolute desperation” and had made “farcical claims on the purity of the process of the elections of the state Assembly, more particularly in the context of the electronic voting machines (EVM)”.

As the petition sought the EVM system to be replaced by voting by ballot papers, the High Court referred to the Supreme Court’s judgment that upheld the use of EVMs and declared it valid.

“There is no material whatsoever, much less of any authenticity, to the effect that there was any malpractice, fraud or complaint of any nature in regard to the voting at the closing hours of the poll i.e. at  6 pm, not by the voters who were not in queue…We are of the clear opinion that merely on political opinions or on unsubstantiated newspaper reports, a petition cannot be maintained,” the High Court said.