SC adjourns hearing on Maneka Gandhi’s plea challenging election of SP’s Sultanpur MP

New Delhi, Sep 20 (IANS) The Supreme Court on Friday fixed September 30 for hearing a plea filed by former Union Minister Maneka Gandhi challenging the election of Samajwadi Party’s Rambhual Nishad as MP from Uttar Pradesh’s Sultanpur Lok Sabha constituency.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan decided to defer the hearing after senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, appearing on behalf of Maneka Gandhi, sought more time to file a note containing an analysis of the limitation provision under other laws.

Apart from questioning the dismissal of her election petition, Maneka Gandhi has challenged the validity of the 45-day limitation period by way of filing a distinct writ petition before the Supreme Court.

Last month, the Allahabad High Court had dismissed Maneka Gandhi’s election petition being time-barred by Section 81, read with Section 86, of the Representation of People (RP) Act, 1951.

As per Section 81 of the RP Act, an election petition can be filed within 45 days from, but not earlier than the date of election of the returned candidate.

Justice Rajan Roy of the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court noted that the candidate was elected on June 4 but Maneka Gandhi filed an election petition on July 27. In its judgment delivered on August 14, the single-judge bench of Justice Roy said: “The election petition has apparently been filed beyond the period of 45 days prescribed in Section 81 of the Act 1951. Section 86 of the Act 1951 provides that the High Court shall dismiss an election petition which does not comply with the provision of Section 81 or Section 82 or Section 117 of the Act 1951.”

There is no provision under the RP Act which permits condonation of such delay and extension of the imitation proscribed, the high court said, adding that “under the repealed Section 85, there was a provision for condonation of delay in filing election petition but there is no such provision in the RP Act existing as of now”.

In her petition, Maneka Gandhi contended that the SP leader did not disclose four criminal cases pending against him and swore a false affidavit. Maneka Gandhi lost to Rambhual Nishad by 43,174 votes in Sultanpur. Nishad secured 4,44,330 votes, while Gandhi got 4,01,156 votes.

–IANS

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