Surinder Mohan Arora, who contested as an independent from Mumbai North West, has alleged that postal ballots were not counted at the start of the counting of EVM votes.
“Even though I was a candidate, I did not know what was going on,” he told The Free Press Journal on Monday.
He said Amol Kirtikar of the Shiv Sena (UBT) had won by one vote against his rival Ravindra Waikar of the Shiv Sena (Shinde).
“But the situation changed after the postal ballots were taken up for counting after EVM counting was completed and Waikar was declared elected by a margin of 48 votes. There was apparently a delay in getting the ballot papers from the post office,” he claimed.
The Election Commission had stated that postal ballots are counted before the counting of EVM votes.
Arora, who had earlier filed a PIL in the multi-crore MSC Bank scam, said he will challenge the poll verdict before the Bombay High Court. He also alleged that the Vanrai police were not cooperative when he complained about the presence of a mobile phone at the counting centre.
“I told the police to register offences as per the sections of the election handbook and the Representation of People’s Act. But they refused and eventually registered an office under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code, which is really not relevant,” Arora said.
