Nagpur : The Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court had set aside the election of BJP MLA Rajesh Kashiwar from Sakoli Assembly constituency in Bhandara district on the ground that he was a government contractor on the day of filing nomination for the election. The ruling came on a petition filed by former Congress MLA Sevak Waghaye, who had challenged the election immediately after Kashiwar was declared elected as the winner on October 19, 2014.
Waghaye, who also contested in the election, had cited four works, construction of enclosure for tiger cubs in Pench Tiger Reserve, Samaj Bhavan on Warthi road, Bhandara, renovation/construction of museum building at Koradi and extension and renovation of Metro Blood Bank at Daga Memorial Hospital in Nagpur as “ongoing” contracts the Kashiwar had undertaken as PWD Class IV contractor, when he had filed his nomination papers on September 27, 2014.
Another fact that was also placed on record was that Kashiwar had got his contractors licence cancelled by the PWD on October 22, 2014. Waghaye had argued that although Kashiwar had received completion certificate for the work, the repair and maintenance part of the contract had continued for one to two years, extending beyond the nominating filing date. He also pointed out that part of Kashiwar’s security deposits in the first, second and forth works were returned by the PWD in June 2015, May 2016 and September 2015 which proved s that the contract had subsistence art the time of filing papers.
Kashiwar had argued that since Waghaye didn’t file his objection before scrutiny of papers on September 29, 2014, his plea shouldn’t be entertained. He had also argued that since no repair or maintenance notice was ever issued to him for the aforesaid works, it shouldn’t be considered as continuation of contact. He further pleaded that since Waghaye hadn’t appeared in the witness box to defend what he had stated in his affidavit to the court, his claims shouldn’t be treated as evidence. The bench comprising Justice A S Chandurka, however, upheld Waghaye’s contention to rule that Kashiwar was a government contractor at the time of filing nominating papers, which was a violation of the above Act and hence his election was being set aside.
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