India
The apex court declined to interfere with the October 26, 2018, order of the Gujarat high court which had said that BJP's allegations regarding Ahmed's 2017 Rajya Sabha election required a trial
New Delhi: In a big setback to veteran Congress leader Ahmed Patel, the Supreme Court on Thursday asked him to face trial in the Gujarat high court with respect to his election to the Rajya Sabha in 2017. The election has been challenged by his rival BJP candidate Balwantsinh Rajput.
The apex court declined to interfere with the October 26, 2018 order of the Gujarat high court which had said that Rajput's allegations required a trial.
"In the meantime, the high court shall proceed with the trial of the election petition," a division bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, said.
Patel had moved the Supreme Court and challenged the state high court order which had dismissed his plea questioning the maintainability of Rajput's election petition.
Rajput, in his petition, had challenged the Election Commission’s decision in which the votes of two rebel MPs were termed void. The BJP leader had contended that had their votes been counted, Patel would have lost the election. The apex court, however, asked all parties to file additional documents.
The top court also observed on Thursday that since all parties had been present in the court, there was no need to issue a notice. The next date of the hearing has been fixed for February. In the meanwhile, the high court would continue hearing the election petition in Gujarat.
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