Former cricketer turned politician Navjot Singh Sidhu will have to face trial in a case that challenges his election as Member of Parliament from Amritsar in the May 2009 elections, ruled the Supreme Court on Wednesday. The order by a Bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Abhay Manohar Sapre came as a setback to the former MP at a time when he is about to contest the upcoming Punjab Assembly elections.
Sidhu was accused by his nearest political opponent of indulging in “corrupt practice” by showing his election expenditure as below the prescribed limit of `25 lakh and also for receiving favours from several State Government officers who at his instance got transferred just before the start of elections.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court had held on December 6, 2010 that Sidhu will have to face trial. Against this decision, Sidhu came to the SC, which stayed the trial in 2011 till the matter was finally decided on Wednesday.
Dealing with three sets of allegations against Sidhu, the Bench sustained two allegations and rejected the third. On the incurring of election expenditure, the Bench was satisfied that the election petitioner, OP Soni, had produced evidence in the form of details of advertisements displayed in newspapers and television channels between April 22, 2009 (date of nomination) and May 13, 2009 (date of polling)to justify his complaint.
Although Sidhu had disclosed that he incurred a total expense of Rs 17.03 lakh, the election petitioner added up the rates of advertisements prevailing on that day and alleged the total expenditure to add up to Rs 32,88,845, which was much beyond the prescribed limit of Rs 25 lakh.
Sidhu argued through his counsel, senior advocate Vikas Singh that Soni failed to produce a copy of the relevant newspapers containing the advertisements and this deficiency was sufficient to dismiss his plea. But the Bench held the view, “It cannot be said that full particulars of the allegation of corrupt practice have not been set out by the election petitioner…the averments made with regard to election expenses require to go for a full fledged trial.”
Soni even alleged that the expenses incurred on public meetings of Sidhu were much more than what was shown in the election expense. But the apex court dismissed this argument as there was no evidence to support the claim.
The second allegation Sidhu will face during trial related to transfer of certain officers into the Amritsar constituency just prior to the elections with a design to facilitate in his election. In particular, Soni alleged that one Jagjit Singh Sachu, a gazette officer in Punjab State Electricity Board was transferred at Sidhu’s instance as Assistant Superintending Engineer in Amritsar. The Bench concluded that even this issue “will have to go for a full trial”