Mumbai North West seat candidate urges LS authority to withhold oath for Ravindra Waikar

Shiv Sena candidate Ravindra Waikar after being declared the winner on June 4. Pic/Satej Shinde

A candidate for the Mumbai North West constituency has urged that the Lok Sabha Secretary General not give the oath to Shiv Sena's Ravindra Waikar, who won the poll by 48 votes over his Shiv Sena (UBT) opponent. Bharat Shah of the Hindu Samaj Party accused the Lok Sabha Secretary General of serious malpractices and illegalities during the vote counting on June 4, in a letter dated June 19, reported PTI.

According to the PTI report, Shah stated that voting and counting in the Mumbai North West constituency were not done properly or in compliance with the Representation of the People Act of 1950 and the Model Code of Conduct. He suggested that Waikar should not be permitted to take the Article 99 oath as a Member of Parliament in order to maintain public trust in the electoral system.

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Notably, Shah garnered only 937 of the 9,54,939 total votes cast in the constituency. Waikar narrowly defeated Amol Kirtikar, a Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate, the PTI report added.

Per the news agency report, the Shiv Sena, led by Uddhav Thackeray, has also accused the returning officer of malpractice during the vote-counting process. Furthermore, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Vinayak Raut, who lost the Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg constituency, wrote to the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Wednesday, requesting a recount and accusing BJP winning candidate Narayan Rane of dishonest and unlawful tactics.

Asim Sarode, a lawyer who represents the Shiv Sena (UBT) in its disqualification petitions against rebel lawmakers, filed both letters to the Lok Sabha Secretary General and the ECI, the report added.

Reportedly, the first session of the 18th Lok Sabha will take place from June 24 to July 3, during which freshly elected members will take their oaths, a speaker will be elected, and the President of India will address the session.