A plea moved by senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel seeking dismissal of petition filed by Congress turncoat Balwantsinh Rajput challenging elections of Patel to Rajya Sabha was rejected on Friday by Gujarat High Court.
As BJP candidate Rajput lost by half vote against Patel in the Rajya Sabha elections held on August 8, 2017. Two rebels Congress MlAs Raghavji Patel and Bholabhai Gohel show their ballots to polling agents of BJP, instead of showing it to just their party’s polling agents as specified in polling procedures. The move of legislators was objected in Election Commission by Congress party and demanded rejection of their votes. As the EC gave its verdict in favour of Congress, Patel went on to win the Rajya Sabha election with narrowest possible margin.
Patel sought dismissal of this petition, stating that it lacked merit, clarity, was vague and did not follow the provisions of Civil Procedure Code. In the elections of three Rajya Sabha seats candidates in the fray required 45 votes to win.
However, with invalidation of two votes, equation changed and requirement to win the election reduced to 44 first preference votes. BJP president Amit Shah got 46, Smriti Irani 45, Ahmed Patel 44 and Rajput ended up at fourth.