Kishan More challenges Mumbai teachers’ constituency election results in HC

Shikshak Bharati's Subhash More challenges Shiv Sena's JM Abhyankar's win in Mumbai Teachers' election, alleging ineligible voters were used. HC admits petition.

Mumbai: Shikshak Bharati candidate Subhash Kisan More, who secured the second position in the recent Mumbai Teachers’ Constituency elections, has filed a petition in the Bombay high court challenging the election results declared on July 2. The election was won by the Shiv Sena UBT candidate, JM Abhyankar.

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More, in his petition, has alleged that Abhyankar’s victory was secured through the registration of ineligible voters, thereby demanding the cancellation of the election results. The controversy stems from the vote-counting process where Abhyankar was declared the winner by a narrow margin of 68 votes in the first round, ultimately securing victory through second-preference votes.

More’s petition further claims that Abhyankar exploited his position to enrol primary teachers and non-teaching staff from various unaided and self-financing educational institutions as voters, a move that More argues ‘violates constitutional provisions’.

According to the constitution, only teachers instructing secondary and higher classes are eligible to vote in the teachers’ constituency. The petition highlights that more than 1,000 such ineligible voters, including primary, pre-primary (playgroup, nursery, kindergarten), and non-teaching staff, were allegedly registered, alongside voters under the age of 22.

Jalindar Sarode, working president of the Shikshak Sena, said, “To register a voter is the responsibility of the election commission and not the candidate. The opponent is not ready to accept their loss, it leads them to go to the court. We will also reply to the petition, and we believe that the court will deliver justice.”