Bombay High Court reserves order on election petition against Shiv Sena MP

The Bombay High Court on Monday reserved its order on an election petition filed by Shahaji N Thorat, a taxi driver who contested the recent parliamentary elections and lost the Mumbai Northeast seat to Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate Sanjay Dina Patil.
Patil won the seat by a margin of approximately 29,800 votes over BJP’s Mihir Kotecha, becoming a second-time MP. He had previously defeated BJP’s Kirit Somaiya in 2009.
Thorat initially filed the petition against the Election Commission and Patil, later seeking to amend it to include all candidates from the constituency.
The petition argues that Patil violated a Maharashtra government directive from March 2024, mandating the inclusion of a mother’s name alongside the father’s name on official documents. Thorat, in his plea, claims this omission renders Patil’s candidature invalid.
Patil’s legal team countered that election petitions must be filed within 45 days of the election, and any amendments are also subject to the same deadline. They further argued that the petition lacks specifics about the alleged false affidavit, concealment, or violation of the law, making it “vague” and baseless.
Thorat opposed these claims, asserting there are no limitations to amending petitions to include additional candidates.
Justice Sandeep Marne reserved his decision, which will be delivered in due course.