Maha RS polls: EC rejects Sena MLA's vote, counting delayed by 8 hrs

The counting of votes in the Rajya Sabha elections from Maharashtra began after 1 am on Saturday following the Election Commission go-ahead.

The counting was scheduled to start at 5 pm Friday, but it could not be taken up as the Bharatiya Janata Party approached the Election Commission alleging violation of rules by three MLAs of the state's ruling alliance of Maha Vikas Aghadi.

The poll panel directed the Rajya Sabha election returning officer of Maharashtra to reject the vote cast by Shiv Sena legislator Suhas Kande.

"The EC took almost eight hours to decide the validity of the votes which were objected upon," Nationalist Congress Party state president and election in-charge Jayant Patil said.

"The process has started after a wait of eight hours," said the state minister.

"Voting was over by 4 pm. We had a zoom call with the ECI officials but it took so long to start the counting of the voting. Now, the counting has commenced," he said.

"One should understand how the system works that takes such a long time to decide on the validity of votes. I hope Shiv Sena MLA Suhas Kande will try to secure his vote legally," he said.

Patil and urban development minister Eknath Shinde expressed confidence that despite a vote being declared invalid, all four MVA candidates would be victorious.

Patil told reporters that Kande would seek legal recourse, while Shinde said, "We have faith in the legal system."

Housing minister Jitendra Awhad, who was given a clean chit by the EC, slammed the BJP for holding Maharashtra to ransom for eight hours.

Women and child development minister Yashomati Thakur said, "The truth has prevailed. Chhatrapati Shivaji has taught us how to tackle conspiracies. A befitting reply will be given at an appropriate time."

Objections were raised against the votes cast by the NCP's Jitendra Awhad, Congress' Yashomati Thakur and Shiv Sena's Suhas Kande as well as against the BJP's Sudhir Mungantiwar and independent MLA Ravi Rana.

Except Kande's, all other votes were ruled to be valid.

Kande did not show his ballot to anyone else but still his vote has been invalidated, Patil said.

Objecting to the EC's decision, Shiv Sena spokesperson Manisha Kayande on Saturday sought to know the reason behind rejection of Kande's vote.

'Rajya Sabha Election: What is the reason behind disqualification of Suhas Kande? Who exactly is behind the 8-9 hour delay in counting of votes? Isn't this a mockery of democracy?' Kayande tweeted.

Union minister Piyush Goyal, Anil Bonde and Dhananjay Mahadik were fielded by the BJP, while the Shiv Sena nominated Sanjay Raut and Sanjay Pawar. The NCP and Congress fielded Praful Patel and Imran Pratapgarhi respectively for the Rajya Sabha election.

Polling was necessitated after the BJP decided to field a third candidate when the number of legislators it has can get it only two seats.