SC rejects Chhattisgarh Cong MLA's plea against petition challenging his election

New Delhi, Feb 24 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a plea of Congress MLA Devendra Yadav challenging maintainability of a petition against his election to the Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly.

A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi refused to interfere with the impugned order of the Chhattisgarh High Court and said Yadav can approach the high court for relief.

It said all rights and contentions are left open and petitioner can raise it before the high court.

Senior advocate Narinder Hooda and advocate Sumeer Sodhi appeared for Yadav in the matter.

Senior advocate Vijay Hansaria, appearing for BJP leader Prem Prakash Pandey, who has challenged the election of Yadav from Bhilai Nagar constituency of the state, said that the trial has been stayed by this court for over a year and the court may direct it to be completed within six months.

The bench said it is not fixing any timeline for the trial.

On February 21 last year, the top court stayed the proceedings against the election of Yadav to the legislative assembly. It had issued notice to Pandey on Yadav’s plea.

Earlier, the Congress leader has contended that the high court erred in dismissing the application under Order 7 Rule 11 of the Civil Procedure Code, questioning the maintainability of Pandey's election petition.

The BJP leader challenged the election on the ground that Yadav, while filing his nomination, did not disclose correct facts and falsely stated certain points, which were contrary to the provisions of the Representation of People Act, and materially affected the result of the election.

Alleging it was a corrupt practice, Pandey contended the nomination paper of the petitioner was wrongly accepted.

The apex court in its 2002 verdict held that voters have a right to know the correct antecedents, including the criminal past of the candidate contesting MP or MLA elections, the BJP leader argued.

The Chhattisgarh High Court on July 5, 2024 dismissed Yadav's plea questioning the maintainability of Pandey's petition. PTI MNL SJK MNL KVK KVK