The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed an election petition pending against BJP leader Sushma Swaraj in the Madhya Pradesh High Court since 2009. Swaraj who had won the General Elections in 2009 from Vidisha seat faced challenge from her Congress rival Rajkumar Patel who filed an election petition in HC to annul her election.
Although no allegations were made against the BJP leader but the Congress nominee questioned the Returning Officer’s decision to reject his nomination on the ground that the documents filed with his nomination arrived beyond 3 pm, stipulated as the deadline under the Election Rules. Senior advocate Harish Salve, who argued the case for Swaraj told the Court that the election petitioner did not bother about the matter all this while and the next elections are around the corner.
The bench of Justices SS Nijjar and AK Sikri found to its surprise that the petition filed in 2009 remained pending in High Court for five years. “This is something very disturbing,” the bench said. Further, it noticed that Patel moved an application in June 2010 claiming that the video recording that showed his proposer enter the gate after 3 pm was doctored. It stood withdrawn in 2012.
“For five years you file an application and on last minute withdraw it,” said the Court, before staying all proceedings in the HC and ordering notice to the election petitioner to respond in four weeks.