Mumbai, Dec 3 (IANS) Shiv Sena(UBT) on Wednesday claimed that the Nagar Parishad and Nagar Panchayat elections in Maharashtra are mired in controversy and administrative turmoil, following a ruling delivered by the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court postponing all vote counting until December 21.

The party said the order mandates that the counting of the votes cast on December 2 be withheld for 19 days, and results be declared alongside the polls that were already postponed to December 20. The entire election process has become a “complete farce (khelkhondoba)” and a symbol of “slack governance and anarchy”, with both the ruling Mahayuti alliance and the State Election Commission (SEC) facing intense accusations of corruption and procedural irregularity.

The Thackeray camp, in a scathing editorial in the party mouthpiece, ‘Saamana’, alleged that the entire process has been characterised by “chaos, confusion, and suspicion”, with irregularities reported from voter lists to the actual voting process.

According to the editorial, the counting for 246 Nagar Parishads and 42 Nagar Panchayats, originally scheduled for December 3, was pushed ahead after a legal challenge sought to ensure that early results would not influence the voting in the 12 districts where polls were postponed. The postponement of counting means that the EVMs used today will have to be secured for nearly three weeks. Opposition parties have expressed deep concern regarding the security of the EVMs, which will be stored for 19 days. They questioned who would guarantee that the machines would remain untouched, raising fears that the ruling establishment, which is already accused of having gained power through election fraud, might attempt an ‘EVM scam’.

“Therefore, the voting machinery that was ready on Tuesday should remain ‘secure’ for a full 19 days — who will ensure there’s no tampering, and how? Everyone has seen the chaos and confusion in Assembly elections. Even in the current Nagar Parishad and Nagar Panchayat elections, all three ruling parties — especially the BJP — have openly adopted the tactics of ‘sam, dam, dand, bhed (persuasion, purchase, punishment, division)’. The incidents of cash bags and seizures of lakhs of rupees from this same constituency have also occurred. These are the constituencies vying for power at that level. The Chief Ministers released sermons on ‘ethics, regulations, and funds’ during campaign rallies. Despite the court’s fresh verdict, he expressed sharp displeasure without hesitation,” remarked the Thackeray camp in the editorial.

Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena further said, “Can trust be placed in the ruling alliance that came to power through election manipulation? With voting and counting now 19 days apart, the days of uncertainty are ahead.” The initial chaos that led to the split voting schedule was a result of the SEC’s own admission of ‘irregular’ procedure in 12 districts.

The editorial said the SEC admitted that some Election Officers violated the Maharashtra Municipality Election Rules, 1966, by allotting election symbols without providing the required three-day withdrawal period for candidates.

Critics have slammed the SEC’s eleventh-hour postponement as “highly suspicious” and “planned chaos”, alleging that the delay was intended to benefit the BJP by giving them more time for election settings.

Even Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis publicly expressed intense displeasure over the SEC’s decision, stating that the poll body was working improperly and that the process of postponing announced elections was “not proper”.

However, the opposition dismissed the CM’s reaction as a “well-staged drama”, arguing that the Chief Minister was merely ‘play-acting’ while the SEC, a ‘joker’, would not have acted without his tacit approval, commented the editorial.

–IANS

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