MUMBAI: With many instances of ruling alliance candidates getting elected unopposed in the local body elections, the State Election Commission (SEC) has sought reports from various authorities to check if there was either coercion or allurement involved in getting opposing candidates to withdraw. The SEC proclaimed that it would not allow the returning officers (ROs) of these wards to announce the election of the ruling alliance candidates until the reports were submitted.
There is at least one BJP candidate each in the Pimpri-Chinchwad, Jalgaon and Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar civic bodies who has been elected unopposed, while five BJP and four Shiv Sena candidates are expected to be elected unopposed in the Kalyan-Dombivli municipal corporation, as there are no candidates standing against them.
The SEC has been getting many complaints of intimidatory tactics used by the ruling parties, in cahoots with the election machinery, to prevent candidates from filing their nominations.
Rekha Redkar of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) filed a complaint for not being allowed by the RO to file her nomination on the last day. “The poll machinery is biased,” she said. “They allowed BJP candidates to submit the documents, including affidavits, even after the deadline of 3 pm whereas I was not even given a token despite reaching well before the deadline. I have asked for the CCTV footage of all the wards to prove my point of bias.”
Apart from Redkar’s, the poll body has received at least two more such complaints from other wards and corporations against the election machinery. Candidates from the Congress, Janata Dal(S) and AAP have alleged that this also happened in three wards in Mumbai’s Colaba.
An SEC official said they would get reports from nine wards where candidates had been elected unopposed. “We will get the reports after January 3, the last date of withdrawal,” said the official. “After this, reports will be sought from ROs, the BMC commissioner (who is also the district election commissioner) and the police commissioners of the respective municipal corporations to ascertain if opposing candidates were pressurised or bribed to withdraw from the fray. Till the reports are received, the ROs will not be allowed to announce the names of the candidates who have been elected unopposed.”
Another officer said that the instances of unopposed election, especially when the fights were multi-pronged and the stakes high, were surprising. “Although we have received just a handful of complaints, the number is expected to be high at the local level,” he said. Asked what action would be taken if the reports substantiated violation of rules or prevention of filing of nomination, the officer said that the SEC could take action only against the RO. “Also, there is no provision to allow the other candidates to file nominations as the last day has lapsed,” he said.
In Ward A, complaints have been received against BJP MLA and assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar for allegedly conniving with the RO to prevent other candidates from filling their nomination forms. Former MP Haribhau Rathod, who has filed a complaint against the RO as well, told reporters, “Narwekar was sitting inside the RO’s office. His relatives are contesting from three Colaba wards and these were his tactics to get the BJP candidates elected unopposed.”
An SEC official said that they had sought a report from BMC commissioner Bhushan Gagrani on the alleged pressure by Narwekar on the Ward A RO. “We have sent him a letter, asking him to also check the CCTV footage inside the RO’s office,” he said. “We are expecting the report to be submitted soon.”
Shiv Sena UBT leader Sanjay Raut too lambasted Narwekar. Speaking to the media, Raut said, “He seems to have forgotten that he is the assembly speaker and should be neutral. He should not be taking part in political events but he went to the nomination centre for his relatives’ nomination.” Narwekar dismissed the allegations, saying that they stemmed from Raut facing the spectre of defeat for his candidates and his party.”
The assembly speaker also called the other allegations—of preventing opposing candidates from filing nominations—“baseless”. “Every candidate who was present in the RO office before 5 pm on December 30 was given the opportunity to file their nomination,” he said. “The people who have been levelling allegations reached the RO’s office after the deadline. There is also an official BJP candidate from Ward 212 among them.”
SEC to investigate Thane traffic DCP’s poll violation
The SEC has also sought a report from DGP Rashmi Shukla regarding the announcement by deputy police commissioner Pankaj Shirsat of the Thane police traffic wing. The DCM, while participating in the function of a newspaper in Thane, had revealed the administration’s plans for the Samruddhi expressway and to curb traffic jams in Thane. “Prima facie, we found it to be a violation of the code of conduct and have sought a report from the DGP,” the SEC official said.