Rajasthan HC dismisses election petition against Bayana MLA

The Rajasthan High Court has dismissed an election petition challenging the election of Ritu Banawat from the Bayana Assembly constituency in Bharatpur district in 2023, holding that the petitioner failed to establish any concealment of assets or other material information that could have affected the poll outcome or amounted to a corrupt practice.

A single-judge bench of Justice Sudesh Bansal, however, imposed a cost of Rs 1 lakh on Banawat for evading summons in the election petition for a prolonged period, observing that such conduct unnecessarily delayed the judicial proceedings by around 10 months.

The court on Monday directed Banawat, an independent MLA, to pay the amount to the petitioner within 30 days.

The election petition was filed by Purushottam Lal, who also contested the Bayana Assembly seat in 2023.

Lal alleged that Banawat did not fully disclose details relating to her assets, liabilities, bank accounts and other material particulars in the Form-26 submitted along with her nomination papers.

The petitioner claimed that several columns in the affidavit were left blank and certain information was deliberately withheld, thereby infringing upon the voters’ right to information.

After examining the evidence on record, the court held that the petitioner failed to prove that any alleged omission or non-disclosure by the returned candidate materially affected the election result or constituted a corrupt practice under election laws.

The court said there was no sufficient evidence to establish that the alleged deficiencies in the affidavit had misled the voters or vitiated the electoral process.

At the same time, the bench took note of the conduct of the MLA in avoiding summons for a considerable period.

The court observed that such actions obstructed the judicial process and led to avoidable delays in adjudication of the election dispute.

The court said that even where an election is ultimately found to be valid, litigants cannot be permitted to frustrate court proceedings, and such conduct may invite financial consequences.

Accordingly, while dismissing the election petition, the court imposed costs of Rs 1 lakh on Banawat and ordered payment to the petitioner within 30 days.