Making serious allegations against gross violations in the recently conducted BMC elections, SS (UBT) candidate Roshni Gaikwad has moved the Bombay HC. She says in her post on social media that on the day of counting of votes, January 16, when all of the candidates went inside near counter number 3, they all saw that all the postal ballot seals were already open. Roshni Gaikwad has placed all her allegations and contentions on social media.
Shivsena UBT Candidate Roshani Gaikwad Move Mumbai highcourt against Chunav Aayog Officers.#ShivsenaUBT #mumbai #ward3 #dahisar #Roshnigaikwad pic.twitter.com/26GwYo5mHR
— Roshni Kore Gaikwad (@Roshniatwork) January 19, 2026
When Roshni Gaikwad raised an objection, asking how the postal ballots had been opened, all the Returning Officer (RO) –a woman—told Gaikwad that she could check the CCTV footage and that it would show the ballots being opened. Gaikwad reportedly said, ‘Alright, show it to me.’ The CCTV footage was shown, but nowhere did it show the postal ballots being opened, nor did it show how many postal ballots there were. Roshni Gaikwad was contesting from Ward 3 in Dahisar East, and the other Candidate was/is BJP’s Prakash Darekar who won.
At the next step, when again all candidates were again checking the CCTV footage during the EVM process, the EVM machines were already placed there. All the seals on the EVM machines had been opened, she says in her post. The strings and seals that are normally tied and sealed were all open and cut. Again, Gaikwad raised objections again, saying that if these seals were not opened in front of us, or in front of our representatives, then the counting had to be stopped/abandoned.
In response, the RO reportedly told her, “if I created too much ‘drama’ there or caused any obstruction in the counting, they would call the police and throw her out of the premises. This threat was given to her by the RO on the spot. “After that, they forcibly started the counting. All the candidates from that ward number protested, however the ‘RO madam’ did not listen to anyone, and the counting went ahead.”
The Returning Officer in question is reportedly Sheetal Deshmukh, Election officer R/North Ward according to the official records of the BMC.
“The first round of counting was completed, then the second round, and after the third round, the madam said that the third round was the final round. When she announced the total votes, the highest number of votes was being shown for Prakash Darekar. When I asked her to tell me the total number of votes, she said it was 19,180.” Again Roshni Gaikwad raised objections. “I said that if 26,651 votes had been cast the previous day, then where was the account of the remaining 7,000 votes? Where had they gone?”
“….At that point, the madam went inside her cabin. I do not know what discussions took place there for 15–20 minutes. After that, she came out and said that they would conduct a re-counting.The re-counting began again, and once again three rounds were completed. Then the madam again said that the third round was the final round. Even then, when she announced the total votes, the number was 25,913, not the total of the previous day-26,651 votes!”
I raised my voice again and said, “Madam, even now the vote tally does not match. There is still a gap of 700–750 votes here. Where have those votes gone?’ Once again, the madam went inside, taking another 15–20 minutes. When she came back, she said that the counting of one machine had been left out, and that after counting that machine they would inform us.When the last machine was counted, I received 354 votes, while Darekar received only 26 votes. That means even in that machine, I was ahead.”
Here are the queries raised by the SS (UBT) candidate:
“My question to the Election Commission is this: was this some kind of children’s game? First you announce a total of around 19,000 votes, and about 7,000 votes simply disappear. After re-counting, you then say that the counting of one machine had been left out.
“Under what interpretation of the Constitution is the Election Commission conducting elections like this, and in what manner?””
There are no replied from an inept Election Commission.
The complete list of candidates of Ward 3 may be seen here.
The Ward List of Returning Officers may be seen here.
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