The Bombay High Court on Wednesday(June 25, 2026) dismissed a writ petition challenging the validity of the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections, describing the case as a “gross abuse of the process of law.” A Division Bench of Justice G.S. Kulkarni and Justice Arif Doctor held that the petition, filed by Mumbai resident Chetan Chandrakant Ahire, lacked legal merit, substance, and locus standi.
“We have no manner of doubt that this writ petition needs to be summarily rejected. It is accordingly rejected. The hearing of this petition has practically taken the whole day leaving aside our urgent cause list, and for such reason the petition would certainly warrant dismissal with cost, however, we refrain from doing so,” the Bench said.
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Ahire, a voter from the Mumbai-Vikhroli constituency, had sought sweeping reliefs including the annulment of results across all 288 Assembly constituencies, withdrawal of election certificates issued to winning candidates, and reversion to paper ballots. Through advocate Prakash Ambedkar, assisted by advocates Sandesh More and Hitendra Gandhi, he claimed that approximately 76 lakh votes were illegally cast after 6 p.m. on polling day, November 20, 2024, and cited an RTI response to argue that no official data existed for those post-deadline votes.
