Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel today sought dismissal of an election petition filed against him by BJP candidate Balwantsinh Rajput in the Gujarat High Court following his defeat in the August Rajya Sabha polls, claiming there was no substance in his allegations.
Along with a detailed response presented before the court of Justice Bela Trivedi, Patel's lawyers also filed documents related to proceedings in four such matters to back the Congress leader's claim that Rajput's petition was in contravention of the provisions of the Civil Procedure Code and the Representation of People Act.
As Rajput's lawyers sought time to file their reply, the court posted the matter for further hearing on October 12.
Citing various provisions of the Civil Procedure Code (CPC), Patel, political secretary to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, claimed since Rajput's petition was "vague and general", and not in consonance with the CPC, it was liable to be dismissed.
Patel's lawyer Pankaj Champaneri also contended that Rajput's petition should be dismissed on the ground that he had failed to present any valid "cause of action", which according to him, is necessary to be shown while filing an election petition.
Invoking section 82 of the Representation of People Act, Champaneri told the court that the Election Commission of India (EC) cannot be made party in such cases.
Rajput, who was a Congress MLA, had quit the party just ahead of the August 8 Rajya Sabha elections held for three seats and was fielded as a BJP candidate.
Rajput lost the election to Patel after the EC passed an order invalidating the votes of former Congress MLAs Raghavjee Patel and Bholabhai Gohel over flouting the rules for conduct of the poll.
A complaint was lodged by Congress' polling agent Shaktisinh Gohil before the counting of votes was taken up on August 8 evening. Gohil alleged that the two MLAs had shown their ballots to some BJP members present in the hall before casting them.
MLAs casting votes in Rajya Sabha elections are barred from showing their ballots to any person other than the polling agents of their respective parties.
The two Congress MLAs had voted for BJP candidate Rajput instead of Patel. The votes were invalidated by the EC, paving the way for Patel's victory.
In his plea, Rajput demanded that EC's order be set aside as it was "patently illegal and void ab initio (from the very beginning)".
He contended that once the Returning Officer (RO) had exercised his discretion and accepted the two votes, the EC had no power or jurisdiction to hear any appeal against it.
The only remedy available to the affected person was to file an election petition, Rajput said.
Rajput also alleged that Patel won because of "corrupt practices".
He claimed that two Congress MLAs who voted for Patel had also shown their ballots to people other than the party's polling agent and demanded that their votes should not be taken into account.
If that is done, Rajput contended, he would win the poll and Patel will stand defeated.
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