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Madhya Pradesh Cong MLA’s election cancelled for failing to declare criminal cases
The Madhya Pradesh high court said Mukesh Malhotra’s failure to declare criminal cases in his election affidavit amounted to a corrupt practice
The Madhya Pradesh high court has cancelled Opposition Congress lawmaker Mukesh Malhotra’s election from the Vijaypur assembly seat, calling his failure to declare criminal cases in his election affidavit a corrupt practice under the Representation of People Act.
Justice GS Ahluwalia of the court’s Gwalior bench on Monday said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s Ramniwas Rawat, who lost to Malhotra in a December 2024 by-poll, will take his place in the assembly. The order will take effect after 14 days, allowing Malhotra time to file an appeal in the Supreme Court.
In 2023, Rawat won the Vijaypur assembly seat on a Congress ticket before resigning to join the BJP. In the by-election in December 2024, Rawat lost to Malhotra by 7,364 votes.
Rawat moved the high court, saying that Malhotra had not disclosed two criminal cases in the election affidavit. The court said that Malhotra deliberately and knowingly suppressed this information, misleading the electorate.
“...such suppression has materially created an impediment in the free exercise of electoral rights, and has deprived the voters to make an informed and advised choice and therefore, this act of suppression has resulted in direct or indirect interference with free exercise of right to vote by the electorate and since, it was within the knowledge of the Malhotra about the pending cases and whether charges have been framed or not, therefore, this act of Malhotra amounts to undue influence, necessitating the declaration of his result as null and void,” the court said.
The court said that failing to provide such information deliberately constituted a corrupt practice. “...it is not necessary for this court to consider whether suppression on the part of Malhotra has materially affected the election result or not, because it has to be presumed, and such a question does not arise. Thus, Malhotra is held guilty of corrupt practice.”
The court declared Rawat as elected as he secured second highest votes. It directed the Election Commission of India and the returning officer to complete the formalities in this regard.
Congress leader Umang Singhar said they respect the court’s decision. “The Congress will appeal this decision in the Supreme Court after consulting with lawyers and understanding the legal aspects. The people of Vijaypur gave the Congress their mandate. The people are still with us. We hope that we will receive justice from the Supreme Court.”
BJP spokesperson Hitesh Bajpai said the Congress hid the criminal cases against Malhotra to mislead the innocent tribal electorate, but now the court has cleared everything.
