MAHESH BALIRAM SAWANT vs SADANAND SARVANKAR

Judgment text excerpt

7-AEP-12766-2025 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY ORDINARY ORIGINAL CIVIL JURISDICTION APPLICATION IN ELECTION PETITION (L) NO. 12766 OF 2025 IN ELECTION PETITION NO. 11 OF 2025 Mahesh Baliram Sawant ...Applicant / Respondent No. 1 IN THE MATTER OF: Sadanand Sarvankar …Petitioner Versus Mahesh Baliram Sawant & Ors. ....Respondents _______ Mr. Sagar Ghogare a/w. Mr. Sarvesh Gawade i/b. Mr. Sandip Ghogare, for the Petitioner. Mr. Amit A. Karande, for the Respondents. _______ CORAM : ARIF S. DOCTOR, J. RESERVED ON : 13th FEBRUARY 2026 PRONOUNCED ON : 7th APRIL 2026 JUDGMENT 1. The present Interim Application has been filed under the provisions of Section 86 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (“R.P. Act") read with Order VII Rule 11 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 ("CPC"), seeking dismissal of the captioned Election Petition. Page 1 of 34 Areeb 7-AEP-12766-2025 2. Before adverting to the rival contentions, it is useful for context to set out the following facts, which are not in dispute, viz., 2.1. The Applicant and the Respondent No. 1, i.e., the Petitioner in the captioned Election Petition, were both candidates from Constituency No. 181, i.e., the Mahim Constituency, in the 15th Maharashtra Legislative Assembly elections, which were held on 20th November 2024 (“the Election"). For the sake of convenience, Respondent No. 1 to this Application shall be referred to as the Petitioner in this Order. 2.2. The results of the Election were declared on 23rd November 2024, and the Applicant was declared the returned candidate with 50,213 votes, whereas the Petitioner polled 48,897 votes, which was the second highest number of votes polled. 2.3 It is the Petitioner's case that the Applicant had, in the Affidavit (Form 26) which is attached to the Nomination