SC agrees to hear Somnath Bharti’s plea against BJP MLA election

The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear an appeal filed by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and former Delhi minister Somnath Bharti challenging the election of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator Satish Upadhyay from the Malviya Nagar constituency in the 2025 Delhi assembly elections

The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear an appeal filed by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and former Delhi minister Somnath Bharti challenging the election of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator Satish Upadhyay from the Malviya Nagar constituency in the 2025 Delhi assembly elections.

(PTI)

A bench of justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta said, “We will grant leave and hear it,” after submissions were made by senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who appeared for Bharti.

Sibal said the high court, in its January 17, 2026, order, dismissed the election petition on the ground that the allegations were also raised against a Congress candidate in the fray who was not added as a party to the case. He said an application to implead him as a respondent was pending and had not been considered.

Upadhyay had won from the Malaviya Nagar assembly constituency, defeating Bharti, who represented the constituency for the previous three consecutive terms. The petition filed by Bharti sought setting aside of Upadhyay’s election on the ground of alleged corrupt practices. Bharti claimed that Upadhyay had deployed his agents to transport voters to polling booths in vehicles, which amounted to a corrupt practice. He further alleged that the Congress candidate in the fray, Jitender Kumar Kochhar, was paid large sums of money by Upadhyay to run an election campaign directed exclusively against Bharti.

The single-judge bench of justice Jasmeet Singh held that Kochhar was a necessary party to the case and that the petitioner’s failure to implead him within the prescribed 45-day time limit warranted dismissal of the petition.

The high court said the provisions of the Representation of the People Act (RPA) governing election petitions must be strictly complied with. It said the allegations clearly attributed active participation and complicity to the Congress candidate in the alleged corrupt practice.

The high court order said, “Once a candidate is alleged to have participated in the corrupt practice, whether by act, omission or conspiracy, Section 82(b) of the Representation of the People Act mandates that such a candidate be impleaded as a respondent.”

It further held, “Once the 45-day limitation period expires, the court does not have jurisdiction to allow such an amendment.”

The high court said allowing such an amendment would amount to rewriting the statute and defeating the legislative intent of Section 86(1) of the Representation of the People Act. “The dismissal is not discretionary but imperative upon non-compliance. Thus, the court cannot cure or condone the defect either by invoking inherent powers or by applying principles of equity,” it said.

Upadhyay had defeated Bharti by a margin of more than 2,000 votes. He was represented in the Supreme Court by senior advocate Maninder Singh. In the high court, he had refuted the allegations contained in Bharti’s petition.