SC agrees to examine BJP leader’s plea against AAP MLA’s election

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to examine a plea moved by BJP leader Yogender Chandolia challenging the election of the AAP’s Vishesh Ravi from Delhi’s Karol Bagh Assembly constituency in February 2020. A bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and R Mahadevan issued a notice to Ravi on the appeal filed by Chandolia against a Delhi High Court order.

The lawyer appearing in the court for Chandolia submitted that there is a question of law involved.

“Whether a false declaration regarding educational qualifications made in Form 26 would fall within the ambit of section 123(4) of the Representation of the People Act,” the counsel said.

The high court had, on May 4, disposed of Chandolia’s plea as infructuous, noting that the term of the Assembly elected in 2020 had expired and fresh polls were conducted in 2025.

In his election petition filed in 2020, Chandolia, who was fielded by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) against Ravi from Karol Bagh, had alleged that, among other things, the AAP MLA’s educational qualification mentioned in his poll affidavit was incorrect.

Chandolia had alleged that Ravi’s claim that he passed the Class-10 examination via the National Institute of Open Schooling in 2003 was false.

He had, thus, prayed that the election result for the Karol Bagh seat should be declared null and void.

In December 2020, the high court refused to reject the election petition based on Ravi’s claim that it did not disclose a cause of action.

The High Court had observed that the election petition had shown that there were assertions to demonstrate that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA “has been taking inconsistent stands concerning the highest educational qualification secured by him”.

It had then held that a false declaration about a candidate’s educational qualification could be brought within the ambit of corrupt practice under the Representation of the People Act, 1951.