Somnath Bharti won't speak on Delhi HC's observations on his plea, says his ‘difficulty’ is…
The AAP leader, who came runner-up to BJP's Bansuri Swaraj on the New Delhi Lok Sabha seat, has filed an appeal challenging her election.
AAP's Somnath Bharti on Monday pointed to his 'difficulties' and refused to speak on observations made by the Delhi high court on his appeal challenging the election of BJP leader Bansuri Swaraj from the New Delhi Lok Sabha seat.
The media must contact the lawyer representing him in the case, Bharti said.
“For friends in media calling for my comment on today's hearing on my election petition: My difficulty is that I can't comment, on observations of the court, outside and inside the court, I am being represented by Sri KC Mittal, a veteran lawyer in election matters. I am yet to see the order,” he posted on social media platform X (formerly Twitter).
Accusing Swaraj, who contested her maiden election, of indulging in ‘corrupt practices’ that contributed to her win, Bharti, who was the joint candidate of the AAP-Congress alliance for the New Delhi seat and came runner-up, losing by nearly 80,000 votes, moved the high court on July 20.
The plea was taken up by the bench of Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora, who observed that it was full of ‘typographical errors,’
“There are too many mistakes. You will have to correct the petition first,” Justice Arora told Bharti’s counsel, who pressed for issuance of notice saying that he would file a corrected plea.
The judge, however, refused to issue any notice, and gave the counsel 10 days to file a corrected plea. She then adjourned the matter until August 13.
Meanwhile, Swaraj, a lawyer and daughter of late BJP stalwart and former Union minister Sushma Swaraj, mocked Bharti, saying that he was unable to ‘digest’ his poll loss.
“He has lost the Lok Sabha election and is now finding it difficult to digest his defeat. I will stand firm against his lies and those of the AAP,” the BJP MP stated.