ECI freezes Maha Rajya Sabha elections vote counting

Mumbai: The counting of 285 votes cast by Maharashtra’s legislators was frozen after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) cited alleged poll code violations by Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) cabinet ministers Jitendra Awhad of the NCP and Yashomati Thakur of the Congress, as well as, Shiv Sena MLA Suhas Kande.

In a tit-for-tat move, the MVA has also moved the Election Commission of India (ECI), making an identical demand to have the vote cast by BJP MLA and erstwhile Maharashtra Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar declared as invalid. The alliance alleged that the MLA showed his ballot paper to two persons.

The MVA complaint also cited independent MLA Ravi Rana for having released a video of his recitation of the Hanuman Chalisa, before reaching the Vidhan Bhavan to cast his vote. Rana, according to the MVA complaint, had tried to influence other voters (along religious lines), thereby violating the poll code.

In the BJP’s complaint addressed to the ECI, both Awhad and Thakur had breached the code of secrecy by showing their ballot to two persons, including the polling agent. The opposition party also claimed that Sena MLA Kande had handed over his ballot paper to two persons, which was also in clear violation of the poll code of conduct.

While the ECI has sought video footage of the voting process captured at Vidhan Bhavan for examination, an MVA leader told First India, “The fact is that objections were raised by the BJP and examined by the ECI-appointed returning officer at the voting centre immediately. After the returning officer was satisfied with the procedure, he rejected the objections raised by the BJP and allowed the three MLAs to cast their votes. These votes were duly deposited into the ballot box and it would be impossible to retrieve them now.”

While the BJP insisted that the three votes should be discounted in the counting process, the ruling MVA government in Maharashtra has claimed that, even their candidates would win even without those votes.

MVA leaders have also insisted that the BJP was playing spoilsport and deliberately trying to delay the poll process. The counting of the votes will commence only after the ECI gives its ruling on the complaints. It is expected to resume late on Friday night itself, it was learnt at the time of going to print.