The scrutiny of nomination papers for the Thane Municipal Corporation elections has triggered a political controversy, with opposition parties alleging bias in favour of the ruling alliance.
The nomination process concluded on December 30. Opposition parties, including the Indian National Congress, the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party, Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, alleged that more than 40 nomination papers, mostly belonging to opposition candidates, were rejected on technical grounds.
According to opposition leaders, the rejections were reported from several civic bodies, including Thane, Bhiwandi and Kalyan-Dombivli. They claimed nominations were invalidated for minor issues such as incomplete affidavits, discrepancies in voter identity details, missing caste certificates, or formatting errors.
The opposition alleged that while such lapses resulted in the rejection of candidates aligned with the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), similar defects in nomination papers filed by candidates of the ruling Mahayuti alliance, comprising the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, were allegedly ignored or condoned.
NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) MLA Jitendra Awhad raised concerns late on Tuesday night, sharing documents which he said demonstrated selective scrutiny. He pointed to an affidavit form that allegedly did not carry a candidate’s name but still bore an official stamp, and contrasted it with an opposition candidate’s nomination that was rejected despite being in the same format as a ruling alliance candidate whose papers were accepted.
Questioning the consistency of the process, Awhad also alleged that election officials were under pressure from ruling party leaders. He claimed that although the deadline for submitting affidavits was 11 am, some candidates were allegedly allowed to submit documents as late as 3.30 pm.
“We have been told everything is fine, but the Election Commission is functioning the way it wants. What is happening in the state is there for everyone to see,” Awhad said.
Senior Congress leader and MVA spokesperson Vijay Wadettiwar echoed the allegations, accusing the administration of attempting to tilt the electoral process.
“This is not administrative diligence; this is political engineering. The same officials who accepted incomplete papers from ruling candidates are rejecting ours on flimsy pretexts,” Wadettiwar told reporters outside the TMC headquarters.
Backing the charge, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Anil Parab alleged discriminatory treatment during scrutiny in at least 15 wards. “Opposition candidates were asked to make corrections or resubmit documents, while candidates from the ruling alliance were cleared immediately. We have video evidence of differential treatment. This violates the Election Commission’s guidelines on fair play,” Parab said.
Responding to the allegations, officials from the Thane Municipal Commissioner’s office denied any bias and defended the scrutiny process. A spokesperson said all nominations were examined strictly in accordance with the Representation of the People Act and the Maharashtra Municipal Corporations Act. “The scrutiny process was uniform and transparent. Candidates were given reasonable opportunities to rectify genuine errors wherever permissible under the law,” the official said.
