The Bombay High Court on Wednesday allowed a petitioner to convert into writ petition his PIL against NCP leader Sharad Pawar’s comment of ‘double voting’.
During a rally of mathadi workers near Mumbai before the recent Lok Sabha elections, Mr. Pawar had allegedly asked the workers to vote twice — once in their native village and then at their work place — for Nationalist Congress Party.
“The court said that since Mr. Pawar was no more in power, the plea cannot be entertained as a Public Interest Litigation. It then allowed me to convert it into a writ petition,” petitioner Hemant Patil told The Hindu .
He claimed he was also threatened by two unknown persons outside the court. “They apprehended me and asked me if I wanted to be shot down. They told me they knew where I stayed in Pune. They asked me why I had filed a petition against Sharad Pawar,” he said.
He claimed he immediately registered an FIR at the Azad Maidan police station against the two unknown persons.
The court has given Mr. Patil two weeks to convert his PIL. The matter will be heard next after two weeks.