New Delhi: The Supreme Court will hear a petition filed by former Union Minister Maneka Gandhi on Friday challenging the election of Rambhual Nishad of the Samajwadi Party as MP from Uttar Pradesh’s Sultanpur Lok Sabha constituency.
According to the cause list published on the apex court website, a bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan will hear the matter on September 20.
Earlier, the Allahabad High Court dismissed Maneka Gandhi’s election petition as being time-barred by Section 81, read with Section 86, of the Representation of People (RP) Act, 1951.
As per Section 81 of the RP Act, an election petition can be filed within 45 days of the date the returned candidate was elected, but not earlier than that date.
Justice Rajan Roy of the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court noted that the returned candidate was elected on June 4, but Maneka Gandhi filed an election petition on July 27.
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In its judgment delivered on August 14, the single-judge bench of Justice Roy said, “The election petition has apparently been filed beyond the period of 45 days prescribed in Section 81 of the Act 1951. Section 86 of the Act 1951 provides that the High Court shall dismiss an election petition which does not comply with the provision of Section 81 or Section 82 or Section 117 of the Act 1951.”
There is no provision under the RP Act which permits condonation of such delay and extension of the imitation proscribed, the high court said, adding that “under the repealed Section 85, there was a provision for condonation of delay in filing election petition, but there is no such provision in the RP Act existing as of now”.
In her petition, Maneka Gandhi contended that the Samajwadi Party (SP) leader did not disclose four criminal cases pending against him and swore a false affidavit.
Maneka Gandhi lost to Rambhual Nishad by 43,174 votes in Sultanpur. Nishad secured 4,44,330 votes, while Gandhi got 4,01,156 votes.
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–IANS
