Party expected to move court to open five 'tender votes' that may change the fortunes of ward 220's candidates
The Shiv Sena has decided to move court to open five 'tender votes' which may once again change the fate of the winner of ward 220 in Null Bazar, which saw a BJP candidate being declared the winner through a lucky draw after a tie with the Shiv Sena candidate there. Shiv Sena sources claimed that after several rounds of deliberations, the party decided to take the issue to court.
Tender votes could also change the fortunes of losing Shiv Sena candidate, Surendra Bagalkar. There are five tender votes that are exercised by voters when they find that their votes were already cast by someone else.
However, these voters had the relevant documents to prove that they were the real voters. In such a situation, the Returning Officer gives the genuine voter a printed ballot paper on which his or her vote can be cast. "However, if the number of tender votes are less than the difference between the winner and the second candidate, this step cannot be taken. But since there is a tie, and the number of votes is more than the difference, Bagalkar could win," said a Sena functionary.
In ward number 220 (Nulla Bazar-Gulalwadi) BJP candidate Atul Shah and Sena's Surendra Bagalkar received 5,946 votes each. Both candidates demanded recounting twice. However, after the EVMs threw up the same number twice, it was decided to go the lucky draw route. Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta had to rush from the civic headquarters to conduct the lucky draw by giving a girl to pick a chit and decide the fates of the candidates.
When the BMC poll results were declared on Thursday, it was a case of `so close and yet so far' for several candidates from the Shiv Sena and BJP, who were shocked to learn they had lost the battle in their wards by a whisker.
Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray had on Thursday even spoken of Sena candidates being defeated by the slimmest of margins and had raised questions about the results in these seats.
In Antop Hill, Shiv Sena corporator Trushna Vishwasrao, who was leader of the Opposition in the BMC, lost to Sufiyan Vanu, son of former corporator Niyaz Vanu by a mere 127 votes.
Santosh Kelkar from ward number 82 (JB Nagar to Airpot Colony) was defeated by Jagdish Kutty Amin by only 48 votes.
Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray and BJP's Mumbai president Ashish Shelar had maintained that their candidates took the fight to their rivals.
However, Thackeray was vocal about about the fact that most of his party's candidates lost by the slimmest of margins. "This issue needs to be taken up with the State Election Commission. If it is a case of malpractise, we will get to the root cause," Thackeray said on Thursday evening.
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