Delhi HC Dismisses Election Petition Against AAP MLA Raghuvinder Shokeen [Read Judgment]

BJP MLA Manoj Kumar Shokeen had filed the petition for setting aside the Raghuvinder’s election as an MLA from the Nangloi Jat constituency, against whom he lost by 37,024 votes in the Assembly poll. The Delhi High Court in Manoj Kumar Shokeen vs. Raghuvinder Shokeen, dismissed an election petition filed by BJP MLA Manoj Kumar Shokeen.Justice Valmiki J. Mehta dismissed the petition on technical grounds as it violated sections 81(1) and 82(A) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.Manoj Kumar had filed the petition for setting aside the election of AAP MLA Raghuvinder Shokeen as a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Delhi from the Nangloi Jat constituency, against whom he lost by 37,024 votes in the Assembly poll.The following issues were raised before reaching the final decision: The election petition ought to be dismissed under Section 86 of the Act as it was not presented in person by the petitioner himself, which was in non-compliance of Section 81(1) of the Act whereby the petitioner does not personally present the petition for filing should result in dismissal of the petition and, in fact ,he was not even present on the court premises when the election petition was filed. A reading of the prayer clause by the petitioner in the election petition shows that clearly a declaration has been sought by the petitioner for not only declaring the election of respondent as void etc. but also for a declaration that petitioner stands elected, and whereby Section 82(a) of the Act clearly comes into play. The court relied on a previous Delhi HC judgment in case of election petition, Surender Kumar Vs. Ranjit Singh, MLA & Ors., decided on 22nd December, 2014, where it has held that in the absence of the other candidates to the election petition as respondents, the election petition is liable to be dismissed.The court said:“…the present election petition was filed way back in February, 2015, and the present application for dismissal of the election petition was filed in June, 2015, and to which reply was filed by the respondent in July, 2015, but, till date, there is no application which is filed by the petitioner before this court for amending the petition to add necessary parties, and, thus, the fact of the matter is that as of today that there is non-compliance of Section 82(a) of the Act and hence on account of non-joinder of necessary parties, this election petition is liable to be and is accordingly dismissed in view of the categorical language of Section 86 of the Act which requires dismissal of the election petition.” Thus, after careful examination of the above issues, the court reached the conclusion that the election petition ought to be dismissed on technical grounds.Read the Judgment here.

Delhi HC Dismisses Election Petition Against AAP MLA Raghuvinder Shokeen [Read Judgment]

Arunima Bhattacharya

Tags