1. The Petitioner (“Ghosalkar”) and the Respondent (“Manisha Chaudhary”) were both candidates from Assembly Constituency No. 153, viz., the Dahisar Assembly Constituency, for the elections of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly held on 15th October 2014. Ghosalkar was the Shiv Sena candidate. Manisha Chaudhary was the Bharatiya Janata Party (“BJP”) candidate.

2. The election results were declared on 19th October 2014. Ghosalkar lost to Manisha Chaudhary. She secured 77,238 votes against his 38,660 votes. She was thus declared elected from the Dahisar Constituency.

3. The present Petition was filed on 3rd December 2014, with Ghosalkar alleging electoral malpractice by Manisha Chaudhary.

4. Today’s order addresses preliminary issues.

5. Before issues were framed, however, on 9th August 2016, I disposed of an application filed by Manisha Chaudhary under Order VII Rule 11 of the Code of Civil Procedure 1908 (“CPC”). That application was on the basis that the Petition disclosed no cause of action. After hearing both sides at length, I dismissed that application. I am inform