Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s Rajenbhai Solanki has moved the Gujarat high court seeking Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmaker Jitendrabhai Vaghani’s disqualification from the state assembly citing alleged corrupt practices during the 2022 election campaign.
In his petition, Solanki alleged Vaghani and his supporters distributed pamphlets giving a false impression to the electorate that the former, who was the AAP candidate against the latter in the Bhavnagar (West) seat, supported the BJP.
Vaghani retained the seat defeating his closest rival Kishorsinh Gohil of Congress by about 42,000 votes. Solanki secured 26,408 votes and finished third.
Solanki alleged Vaghani and his supporters misguided the electorate by using the identity of the AAP candidate’s namesake, who was contesting as an independent candidate from Bhavnagar (West).
Solanki’s lawyer, Punit Juneja, submitted before the court that the pamphlets in the name of the namesake extended support to the BJP candidate a day before the election.
Solanki said he complained to the authorities immediately and also sought CCTV footage of the day when the pamphlets were circulated. A complaint was also filed on December 1 before the election officials.
A First Information Report (FIR) was registered on December 7 under the Representation of People Act and Gujarat Police Act but did not name Vaghani on whose behest the pamphlets were allegedly distributed.
{{/usCountry}}A First Information Report (FIR) was registered on December 7 under the Representation of People Act and Gujarat Police Act but did not name Vaghani on whose behest the pamphlets were allegedly distributed.
{{/usCountry}}The FIR was registered against the independent candidate and the owner of the press where the pamphlets were published.
The high court on Monday issued summons to Vaghani and posted the hearing on the matter on April 21. It directed the authorities to secure evidence including CCTV footage.