SC verdict on Ahmed Patel's plea on his Rajya Sabha election likely tomorrow

The Supreme Court is likely to deliver its verdict on Wednesday on a plea of senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel challenging the Gujarat High Court order refusing to quash a petition of a BJP leader against his election to the Rajya Sabha.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud had reserved its verdict on September 19 after hearing the counsel for Patel and BJP leader Balwantsinh Rajput.

Senior advocate A M Singhvi, appearing for Patel, said the petition filed by Rajput challenging his election to the Rajya Sabha in the Gujarat High Court contained "vague" allegations and the court cannot be asked to conduct a "fishing and roving" inquiry.

 

"The election law is very strict law and the allegations have to be specific and substantiated... allegations in an election petition have to be clear and they cannot be vague. The court cannot be asked to conduct a fishing and roving inquiry into the allegations of corrupt practices," Singhvi had said.

He had said that Congress party had 57 MLAs in Gujarat assembly and it has been alleged that Patel bribed 44 of them and the peculiar thing was that the plea did not disclose "who, when and how" they were bribed.

Earlier, the apex court had asked the Gujarat High Court not to proceed with the hearing on the plea filed by a BJP leader challenging Patel's election, after framing of issues in the case.

It had also issued the notice to Rajput on the appeal of Patel seeking a stay on the proceedings before the high court in the matter.

Rajput lost the election to Patel and had later challenged the election in the high court.

The senior Congress leader has challenged the April 22 order of the high court which had dismissed his plea.

He had contended before the high court that the election petition was "not at all maintainable" and should be "dismissed at the threshold" as it violated the provisions of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

The plea said the decision of the poll panel cannot be challenged in an election petition. "Election Application ...was preferred by the Petitioner (Rajput) under Order VII Rule 11 of the CPC praying for dismissal of the Election Petition for non disclosure of cause of action," it said, while seeking a stay on the proceedings before the Gujarat High Court.

Patel was elected to the Rajya Sabha last year after defeating Rajput, who had earlier quit Congress to join the BJP.

The win for the Congress leader had come after the Election Commission had cancelled the votes of rebel Congress MLAs, Bhola Bhai Gohil and Raghav Bhai Patel. This had brought down the requirement for an outright victory for a candidate to 44 from 45.

Soon after Patel got elected, Rajput had filed a petition in the high court challenging the poll panel's decision to invalidate the votes of the two rebel MLAs. Had these votes been counted, he would have defeated Patel, Rajput had contended in the High Court.

In his petition in the high court, Rajput had also alleged that Patel had taken the party MLAs to a resort in Bengaluru before the election, which, he claimed, amounted to bribing the voters.

Patel had challenged Rajput's plea and sought its dismissal for not serving the respondents an attested copy of the petition as required under the law.

The high court, however, rejected his plea and said the petitioner had substantially complied with the provisions of law and the defects could be easily cured.

Patel moved the top court against the high court order, saying that Rajput's petition was "devoid of merits" and failed to show any "cause of action".