'This daylight robbery of elections is happening in the commercial capital of India, Mumbai city, so you can imagine what they will do to win elections in the interiors of India.'
Avinash Jadhav, district head of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena's Thane and Palghar units, has moved the court challenging what he calls a 'dangerous precedent' in the state's local body elections, where almost 70 candidates from the ruling Mahayuti alliance have reportedly been elected unopposed.
At the last count of 68 seats, the Bharatiya Janata Party won 44, while the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena secured 22 seats. Ajit Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party, which is fighting the local polls separately, accounted for the remaining two seats.
Alleging large-scale coercion, bribery, and misuse of the election machinery to force Opposition candidates out of the fray, Jadhav warns that Indian democracy itself is under threat in the state.
According to Jadhav, such a high number of unopposed victories is unprecedented in Maharashtra and cannot be dismissed as coincidence or a technical lapse.
In an interview with Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff, Jadhav claims that Opposition candidates were either pressured to withdraw their nominations or faced arbitrary rejection of their papers, effectively clearing the field for ruling alliance candidates to be elected without a contest.
Citing specific cases from Thane and surrounding regions, Jadhav alleges police involvement, last-minute withdrawals, and election officials acting in a partisan manner.
He argues that these actions point to a systematic effort to engineer outcomes even before polling day, thus undermining the Constitutional right of citizens to choose their representatives.
As the state Election Commission has ordered an internal inquiry into the win, Jadhav remains unconvinced and has filed a petition in the Bombay high court demanding a court-monitored investigation into the large-scale withdrawal of nominations.
Ahead of elections to 29 municipal corporations, including the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation elections, scheduled for January 15, Jadhav insists that judicial intervention is the only way to restore public confidence and prevent what he describes as 'sale of democracy' in Maharashtra.
Why have you gone to court against the unopposed win of Mahayuti candidates in the elections?
I have filed a petition in the courts stating that 70 councillors in the upcoming local elections in Maharashtra have got elected unopposed. This has happened for the first time in the history of the state.
There used to be one or two incidents where councillors were elected unopposed and that used to be in cases like Opposition parties filling wrong forms or some wrong attachment of form which was then rejected by the returning officer resulting in the unopposed victory.
But this time there are nearly 70 such cases.
This is a danger to the Constitution of India as so many councillors are elected unopposed. There is no contest against them. And in some cases where our candidates have withdrawn their nomination forms, they have been bribed to the tune of Rs 5 crore.
Therefore, I had to go to court and file the petition. Now the state election commission too has swung into action and launched an inquiry into these cases, but we are demanding that a retired judge should investigate this case. If not, a high court appointed panel must inquire into how 70 people can get elected unopposed.
But these are only your allegations of Rs 5 crore being paid as bribe. There is no proof.
You then think and tell me, not one or two but almost 70 people have withdrawn from the election fray which has led to unopposed win for Mahayuti candidates.
One example I will give you right now. We had a candidate from the Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray. He had filed the AB form (issues by a political party nominating a person as its official candidate) and was to contest the election as the Shiv Sena-UBT candidate but he withdrew at the last moment, resulting in victory for Mahayuti candidate.
Now, here is the twist. There is a video of this candidate escorted by a police officer to Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's residence. Later, the same police officer accompanies the candidate to the election office where he withdraws his candidature.
What does this indicate? Either he was pressurised to withdraw or there is some other reason whose answer we do not know.
Another candidate of ours was called at 2 am and offered Rs 5 crore to withdraw his candidature.
Democracy is on sale in Maharashtra.
Do you think the people of Maharashtra know this?
Every voter in Maharashtra is angry and they know what is going on in the state.
They know their voting rights are being snatched.
Today, they are conducting elections but later you never know, it is only the ruling party candidates who will be allowed to file the AB form.
Can you explain how this system works and why your nominations are being rejected?
One of our candidates, Prachi Gadge in Thane, got a call from the election office at Thane that she has some discrepancy in her papers and must come to the election office with appropriate papers before 11 am.
Prachi Gadge reaches the election office at 10.30 am and waits because the election officers are busy eating breakfast. She sits in front of them and waits for her turn.
After these election officers have finished their breakfast she approaches them with the relevant documents. And to her surprise, Prachi is told by the same officers that her time is up as she was submitting the form at 11.05 am.
The reason for which she was called was even more frivolous. She got married and had changed her address so she was called to verify the new address. And since they delayed her time to post 11 am, they are telling her that her nomination stands rejected.
Is a wrong address a valid reason to reject one's nomination?
There are only three reasons the nomination form of a candidate can be rejected.
The first one is when the suchak (proposer) and anumodak (seconder) signatures are missing from the form.
The second reason can be if the candidate for some reason forgets to sign the form.
And third, if your affidavit column form is nirank (blank), then it can be rejected.
No other reason is given to reject a candidate who wishes to contest elections.
But you are such seasoned politicians, your party is two decades old in politics and yet these things are happening.
A big conspiracy is going on to rig the elections. I don't know what the future holds.
In the future every party will have not one form but three forms ready because the BJP is capable of buying out Opposition candidates even before voting begins.
With the model code of conduct in force, the police do not report to the government, so are there any assurances from them in the case?
Yes, right now the Thane police commissioner has assured me that action will be taken against two returning officers.
You have approached the courts and the election is on January 15. Don't you think you are too late?
We cannot do anything to advance court proceeding, but yes, we have requested the court to intervene and give us a hearing on an earlier date.
You are accusing the Mahayuti government of buying out candidates before elections, but the same kind of allegation was made by Uddhav Thackeray before the 2024 assembly elections and yet Eknath Shinde's party won with good numbers.
All of Maharashtra knows that the machines (EVMs) were set for them to ensure their victory. They are finding out new ways to win elections.
This time they are winning without letting Opposition candidates contest.
This is a new pattern which the BJP has introduced in India.
It is only because of me that people are coming to know about this rigging.
In the future this pattern will repeat in other states. This daylight robbery of elections is happening in the commercial capital of India, Mumbai city, so you can imagine what they will do to win elections in the interiors of India.
By saying all this you are planting a doubt in voters' mind and also blaming the Election Commission.
You think they are an independent body?
Who are the workers who work in the Election Commission of India in Thane? It is Thane municipality employees who are loaned to the Election Commission during election time.
These officers work in election office only during election time, the rest of the year they are working in the Thane municipal office. All these returning officers are friends with councillors of the ruling party.
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