The Delhi high court on Monday turned down Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Somnath Bharti’s request to issue a notice over his plea challenging the election of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s Bansuri Swaraj as the member of Parliament (MP) from New Delhi constituency, saying the petition was full of typographical errors.
A bench of Justice Manmeet PS Arora asked Bharti’s counsel to file a corrected plea within 10 days and adjourned the matter until August 13, declining any order for the time being.
Bharti’s petition said Swaraj, who defeated him by 78,370 votes, indulged in “corrupt practices” in the Lok Sabha elections. It added some BJP workers disturbed money, sarees, and suits to the voters on Swaraj’s behalf to influence them to vote for her.
When the matter was taken up for hearing on Monday, Justice Arora remarked the plea was full of mistakes. “There are too many mistakes. You will have to correct the petition first,” Justice Arora told Bharti’s lawyer, who pressed for issuance of notice saying that he would file a corrected plea. The judge turned down the request. “I cannot issue notice. I cannot understand. I will simply adjourn it.”
The court in the order said, “A perusal of the plea reveals that it has multiple typographical errors and the reference of the respondent in the plea does not relate with the memo of parties. Learned senior counsel for the petitioner states that the corrected plea will be filed within 10 days. At request, adjourned to August 13.”
{{/usCountry}}The court in the order said, “A perusal of the plea reveals that it has multiple typographical errors and the reference of the respondent in the plea does not relate with the memo of parties. Learned senior counsel for the petitioner states that the corrected plea will be filed within 10 days. At request, adjourned to August 13.”
{{/usCountry}}Bharti’s plea said on the day of the polls, Swaraj’s booth agents had her pamphlets displaying her ballot number, photo, and election symbol, along with a photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. They showed these things to the electors who lined up in the booth and asked them to vote on a particular ballot.
The plea added that Raaj Kumar Anand, who contested as Bahujan Samaj Party candidate, was “set up” to help Swaraj win against Bharti. It added Anand was a minister in the Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi and was campaigning for the petitioner before he suddenly resigned because of the misuse of federal agencies. “On inquiry, the respondent no. 2 (Sh Raaj Kumar Anand) revealed that he was under tremendous pressure from the investigating agencies and hence had no option but to resign else he would be arrested,” the plea said.