Mumbai NW candidate urges LS authority not to administer oath of MP to Waikar

Mumbai: A candidate from the Mumbai North West seat has appealed to the Lok Sabha secretary general not to administer oath to Shiv Sena's Ravindra Waikar, who won the poll from the constituency by 48 votes against his Shiv Sena (UBT) rival.

In a letter to the Lok Sabha secretary General, Bharat Shah of the Hindu Samaj Party alleged there were serious malpractices and illegalities during the counting of votes on June 4.

"The voting and counting conducted in the Mumbai North West constituency was not free and fair as expected under the Representation of the People Act-1950 and was not in accordance with the Model Code of Conduct," claimed the letter dated June 19.

"It will be just and proper not to allow Ravindra Waikar to take oath of allegiance under Article 99 as a member of Parliament which retain and regain the confidence of voters in India that there is some evaluation system functional which takes serious and swift cognisance of electoral frauds," Shah said in the letter.

Notably, Shah got only 937 out of the total 9,54,939 votes polled in the constituency.

Waikar defeated Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate Amol Kirtikar by a very slender margin of 48 votes.

The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) has alleged malpractice during the counting of votes and targeted the returning officer.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Vinayak Raut, who lost the Lok Sabha polls from Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg in Maharashtra, also wrote to the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Wednesday seeking repoll in the constituency, alleging winning candidate Narayan Rane of the BJP emerged victorious by resorting to "corrupt and illegal practices".

Both the letters - to the Lok Sabha secretary general and the ECI - were sent by Asim Sarode, a lawyer representing the Shiv Sena (UBT) and assisting the party in its pleas seeking disqualification of rebel Shiv Sena legislators.

The first session of 18th Lok Sabha will be held from June 24 to July 3.

It will witness oath/affirmation of the newly elected members of the Lok Sabha, election of speaker, address of the President of India.

A political slugfest erupted on Sunday over EVM tampering claims with Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and other opposition leaders citing a media report that alleged that a relative of Waikar was found using a mobile phone "connected" to an electronic voting machine during the counting of votes on June 4.

However, Vandana Suryavanshi, returning officer of the constituency, dismissed the report as "false news" and asserted that the EVM is a standalone system, not programmable and has no wireless communication capabilities.