Bombay HC Concludes Hearing On 76 Lakh Mysterious Votes; Prakash Ambedkar Leads Legal Challenge
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Bombay High Court has completed hearings on a plea over 76 lakh suspicious votes cast after polling hours in Maharashtra. Prakash Ambedkar argued the case, questioning electoral transparency.
Mumbai: Today, on June 23, After the Maharashtra Assembly elections, several opposition parties, especially the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), have been continuously criticising the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the ruling party over the sudden spike in voting numbers.
Congress MP and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, also repeatedly raised questions about the increased voter turnout.
These concerns were widely discussed in media articles. In response, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis penned a counter-article defending the process. Leaders of the ruling Grand Alliance also retaliated against the Congress party’s claims.
Amidst this political back-and-forth, a significant legal development has now taken place.
ALSO READ: BREAKING | VVPAT Cross-Verification of Votes Plea to Be Heard by Supreme Court Next Week
The Bombay High Court recently completed the hearing of a petition concerning the sudden appearance of 76 lakh additional votes cast after 6 PM in the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections.
The petition was filed by Chetan Chandrakant Ahire, a member of the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), who questioned the legitimacy of this late surge in votes.
Noted leader of the VBA and senior advocate Prakash Ambedkar represented the petitioner in court. The High Court has now reserved its verdict and announced that the final judgment will be delivered on June 25.
After the hearing, Prakash Ambedkar made a strong public statement, declaring,
“Serious questions on transparency and democracy of the electoral process.”
Prakash Ambedkar has been vocal about his doubts regarding the credibility of the electoral process even before this case.
On January 16, 2025, he had written to Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and other key opposition leaders, urging them to come together and resist the use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and the amendments made to the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961.
In his letter, he clearly stated that the alleged
“figure of 76 lakh votes is not only ‘wrong’, but it raises serious questions on the transparency and democracy of the electoral process.”
The petitioner, Chetan Ahire, has alleged that these 76 lakh votes were mysteriously added after polling hours ended, and that these votes did not match with the previously declared total numbers.
He claimed that this discrepancy is highly suspicious and needs thorough investigation.
According to his legal counsel, the proper legal procedure was not followed by the Election Commission and other concerned authorities during the vote counting and result declaration stages.
The counsel further argued that every statutory body must function within the limits of the Constitution, and if a government is formed based on an election that was not conducted in a free and fair manner, it poses a serious “havoc to the democracy of the country.”
He also highlighted that there was concealment of important information, which further compromised the transparency of the process.
While Prakash Ambedkar argued in court, it appears he was acting more in the role of a standing counsel, supporting the legal team and the arguments presented by the petitioner’s advocate.
In court, the Election Commission, the Central Government, and the Maharashtra State Government all put forward their respective defences.
However, the petitioner’s legal team maintained that the lack of procedural integrity and unexplained late voting figures undermine public trust in the electoral system.
With the High Court’s verdict now awaited on June 25, this case has become one of the most closely watched legal matters related to the 2024 state elections.
If the court rules in favour of the petitioner, it could have wide-ranging implications for the validity of the election results and for electoral reforms in India.
The statements such as
“Serious questions on transparency and democracy of the electoral process”, and “figure of 76 lakh votes is not only ‘wrong’, but it raises serious questions on the transparency and democracy of the electoral process”, along with the legal submission that “every statutory body should act under the ambit of the Constitution and a government made through an election which did not follow free and fair procedure is a havoc to the democracy of the country” underline the gravity of the allegations.
Background of the Case
Veteran politician and lawyer Prakash Ambedkar has sharply criticised the Congress leadership, alleging that the party only did “lip service” over the discrepancies in the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections.
He specifically targeted Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi for not taking the matter to court, despite the serious concerns flagged.
Ambedkar revealed,
“To be honest, Congress is just paying lip service and nothing more.” He added, “After the Maharashtra elections were announced and the discrepancies in the polled votes were found by VBA, I personally reached out and wrote to Kharge on January 16, 2025, to raise the issue since we believed that a united effort would be effective to take this throughout the nation. But we got no response either from Kharge or the Congress party.”
He also pointed out that he requested Kharge to collectively challenge the amendments to the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, but again received no reply.
“After receiving no reply from the Chief Electoral Officer of Maharashtra to my letter dated December 12, 2024, and no response from Kharge and the Congress party to my letter for a united fight, VBA decided to take this fight to the court,” he stated.
Prakash Ambedkar raised a direct question,
“Now, the question is—could not the Congress or Rahul Gandhi take this matter to the court? The Congress has a lot of senior lawyers amongst its rank, some of which have been and are MPs. Could not the Congress file a case in the court? What has the article written by Rahul Gandhi achieved other than propagation of Rahul Gandhi?” He further questioned, “If the Congress really wanted to fight this very serious issue, the Congress and Rahul Gandhi would have taken this matter to the Court like we did. What was stopping the Congress from collaborating with VBA to fight this matter?”
The petition filed by VBA’s Chetan Chandrakant Ahire was admitted by the Bombay High Court on February 3, 2025.
It challenged the conduct of the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections, alleging that approximately 75 lakh votes were recorded after 6 p.m. on polling day (November 20, 2024) without proper transparency or verification.
The plea also pointed to the Election Commission’s failure to disclose token distributions and its admission that relevant voting data was not available.
Ambedkar, who is personally arguing the case along with advocates Sandesh More and Hitendra Gandhi, informed the court that around 6.80% of the votes were cast between 5 p.m. and the end of polling.
He told the bench,
“The Returning Officer [RO] is duty-bound to refer the difference in votes polled and counted to the EC for its directions as mentioned in the handbook published by the Election Commission and till that time the right to declare result is suspected and the RO is supposed to declare the result only after the direction from the EC.”
The petitioner contended that the RO has no authority to declare results unless the number of votes polled matches the votes counted.
Therefore, the petition questioned,
“Whether the result declared without jurisdiction and without powers is null and void since there have been violations of various norms.”
The Bombay High Court has already held two hearings and issued a notice to the Election Commission of India.
Ambedkar confirmed,
“The Writ Petition highlighted the discrepancies in the total votes polled and sought answers to the very same questions which I had requested the Chief Electoral Officer of Maharashtra to furnish. I am personally arguing this case. In the first hearing, a notice was sent by the Court to the Election Commission of India. The case has been heard twice in the Court. The next hearing is on June 16, 2025,”
Advocates:
Petitioner’s Advocate: Sandesh More
Respondent’s Advocate: Akshay Prakash Shinde
Case Title:
Chetan Chandrakant Ahire v. Union of India Through Department of Legal and Others WP/3101/2025 & Reg. No. :- WP/1402/2025
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