HC notice on plea challenging Ludhiana West MLA Sanjeev Arora’s election

The court, acting on the plea from Jaswinder Singh Malhi, a Ludhiana resident, sought response by October 13. The plea alleges that Arora’s campaign expenditure exceeded the legal limit of ₹40 lakh many times over and that he had misused state machinery, made religious appeals, and leveraged paid media coverage to unfairly influence the June 2025 byelection.

The Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) has issued a notice of motion in a plea challenging the election of Sanjeev Arora, Punjab industries minister, as MLA from Ludhiana West.

Sanjeev Arora had defeated Bharat Bhushan Ashu of the Congress by a margin of 10,637 votes. (HT File)

Arora had defeated Bharat Bhushan Ashu of the Congress by a margin of 10,637 votes.

The court, acting on the plea from Jaswinder Singh Malhi, a Ludhiana resident, sought response by October 13. The plea alleges that Arora’s campaign expenditure exceeded the legal limit of ₹40 lakh many times over and that he had misused state machinery, made religious appeals, and leveraged paid media coverage to unfairly influence the June 2025 byelection.

The petition seeks to declare his election void under Section 100 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, citing concealment of expenditure, misuse of official position, and corrupt practices. The petitioner alleged that the expenditure incurred on setting up booths for distributing voters’ slips outside polling booths, conducting 25-30 public meetings daily, and social media promotion and paid news was not disclosed.

“The respondent engaged professional religious preachers for his campaign and used their religious identity to seek votes in the name of religion, which is also illegal and, as such, amounts to corrupt practices,” the plea alleges.