HC seeks Bansuri Swaraj’s reply on Bharti’s plea challenging her election
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Malviya Nagar MLA Somnath Bharti.
| Photo Credit: file photo
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday asked BJP MP Bansuri Swaraj to respond to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Malviya Nagar MLA Somnath Bharti’s petition challenging her election from the New Delhi Lok Sabha seat on the grounds of alleged corrupt practices.
Mr. Bharti was the INDIA bloc candidate against Ms. Swaraj in the recently held general election and lost to her by over 70,000 votes. He had filed a petition in the High Court against her election on July 20, accusing her of various electoral malpractices, including exceeding the 95-lakh poll expenditure limit in her poll campaign.
He had also alleged that Raaj Kumar Anand, former AAP Minister who quit the party before the election to join Bahujan Samaj Party and fight on its symbol from the New Delhi seat, was propped up by the BJP to cut AAP’s votes and help the BJP candidate.
The court deleted Mr. Anand’s name from the array of parties in the case, noting that no cause of action was made out against him.
“We can’t keep on issuing notice to parties where no cause of action is made out,” the judge observed orally.
While deleting Mr. Anand’s name from the list of parties, the court said it was unable to appreciate the contention that he contested the election to cut into AAP votes, given that he had only secured 5,269 votes.
Even if all the votes he polled were added in favour of Mr. Bharti, the AAP leader would still have lost to Ms. Swaraj, the court said.
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