MUMBAI: The Congress on Friday objected to BJP MLA from Kalyan (East) Ganpat Gaikwad voting for the Maharashtra Legislative Council (MLC) polls. Congress MLA Abhijit Wanjari in a complaint to the Returning Officer said that Ganpat Gaikwad was in judicial custody and he should not be allowed to cast his vote for the MLC polls.
Gaikwad and four accomplices were arrested for an assassination attempt on Shiv Sena functionary Mahesh Gaikwad within a police station and remanded to judicial custody by a local court in Kalyan in February this year.Gaikwad arrived at the state legislature and waited at the BJP office on Friday afternoon. However, Election Commission (EC) officials referred the Congress’s complaint to the Central EC and asked Gaikwad to wait. If Gaikwad is not allowed to vote it will be a setback for the BJP since there are 12 candidates in the fray for 11 MLC seats and every vote counts. Gaikwad has been in judicial custody since the incident in February.
MLA Ganpat Gaikwad is currently in judicial custody. As per Section 62 (5) of The Representation of the People’s Act, 1951 he cannot exercise the right to vote. It is understood that MAL Ganpat Gaikwad will vote. Please prevent them from voting illegally and protect the constitutional values without any pressure as per The Representation of People’s Act.1951 under Section 62 (5). If Gaikwad is allowed to vote, we will have to resort to legal recourse,” Wanjari, representative of Congress candidate Pradnya Satav, said in his objection letter.
MLA Ganpat Gaikwad is accused of firing upon Mahesh Gaikwad, the Kalyan unit head of chief minister Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena, inside the room of the senior inspector’s office at Hill Line police station in Ulhasnagar earlier this month. The accused face charges of attempted murder and other related offences.
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut said allowing BJP MLA Ganpat Gaikwad, who is in judicial custody in a shooting case, to vote in the MLC polls would amount to misuse of power. Raut said that in the previous MLC polls, the then NCP MLAs Anil Deshmukh and Nawab Malik were not allowed to vote.
“Ganpat Gaikwad can come out from jail to vote, but Anil Deshmukh and Nawab Malik were also in jail (during the 2022 MLC polls) and were not allowed to vote. This is the use or misuse of power. Results of the recent Lok Sabha election have shown that people have backed the opposition parties. Even their (the ruling parties) MLAs can split or take a different stand. No one should be under the impression that only votes of the Congress or any other (opposition party) will split,” Raut said.