The Supreme Court on Thursday asked Congress leader Ahmed Patel to face trial in an election petition filed by rival BJP candidate Balwantsinh Rajput in connection with the 2017 Rajya Sabha poll.
A Bench, led by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, refused to intervene, for the time being, with the October 26, 2018 order of the Gujarat High Court. Mr. Rajput had earlier filed a petition in the High C court challenging the Election Commission’s decision to invalidate the votes of the two rebel MLAs. He had argued that had these votes been counted, he would have defeated Mr. Patel. The High Court concluded that Mr. Rajput’s allegations required a trial. Consequently, Mr. Patel challenged the order in the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court ordered that the case be listed for February for final disposal. “In the meantime, the High Court shall proceed with the trial in the election petition,” it said.
Mr. Patel was declared the winner after the Election Commission invalidated the votes of rebel Congress MLAs Bholabhai Gohel and Raghavjee Patel, bringing down the number of votes needed for victory to 44 from 45. In his election petition before the High Court, Mr. Rajput also alleged that Mr. Patel had taken Congress MLAs to a resort in Bengaluru before the election, an act that amounted to “bribing the voters.”
In October 2018, the High Court for the second time declined to give relief to Mr. Patel. Earlier, on April 20, it had rejected his plea.
