MP High Court Nullifies Congress MLA Mukesh Malhotra's Election For Non-Disclosure Of Criminal Cases, Declares BJP Candidate As Elected

The Madhya Pradesh High Court has nullified the election of Congress MLA Mukesh Malhotra for non-disclosure of criminal cases, holding that suppression or incomplete disclosure of criminal antecedents amounts to suppression of a material fact and nullifies the election. The Court observed that suppression of material information created an impediment in the free exercise of electoral rights, depriving the voters of making an informed choice and interfering with the free exercise of the right to vote by the electorate. Justice G. S. Ahluwalia was hearing an election petition filed by Ramniwas Rawat challenging the election of Mukesh Malhotra from Assembly Constituency No. 02, Vijaypur (District Sheopur) in the by-election held in November 2024. Rawat, who contested the by-election as a BJP candidate, sought a declaration that Malhotra's election be declared void and that he himself be declared the duly elected candidate.The by-election arose after Rawat, who had earlier been elected to the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly on a Congress ticket in the 2023 general election, resigned from the Assembly and subsequently joined the Bharatiya Janata Party, leading to the vacancy of the Vijaypur seat. The Election Commission announced the by-poll, polling was conducted on 13 November 2024, and the results were declared on 23 November 2024, in which Mukesh Malhotra of the Indian National Congress was declared elected. The election petition was primarily based on the allegation that Malhotra had not fully disclosed his criminal antecedents in the affidavit required to be filed in Form-26 along with the nomination papers. According to the petitioner, six criminal cases had been registered against Malhotra. However, in his affidavit, he had disclosed incomplete details regarding two pending criminal cases and had completely omitted four other cases.The Court noted that the stage of framing a charge is not a mere formality but in fact it is stage where a judicial mind is applied to find out as to whether the material collected against the accused prima facie raises a grave suspicion that the accused might have committed offence requiring his trial or not and for that purpose, the court has power to weigh the evidence. The Court held that the incomplete disclosure of criminal cases in the affidavit filed with the nomination papers amounts to suppression of material information from the electorate. “Non-disclosure of complete information regarding the stage of pending cases, by itself, would amount to suppression of a material fact, resulting in corrupt practice,” the Court observed.The Court highlighted that respondent no. 1 failed to prove that the wrong declaration regarding non-framing of the charge was his bona fide mistake. Therefore, the Court held that respondent no. 1 has misled the electorate by deliberately and knowingly suppressing material information regarding the framing of charges, which has resulted in direct or indirect interference with the free exercise of the right to vote by the electorate.Accordingly, the High Court declared the election of Mukesh Malhotra from the Vijaypur Assembly constituency void and, considering that the petitioner had secured the next highest number of votes, declared Ramniwas Rawat as the duly elected Member of the Legislative Assembly from the said constituency.Case Title: Ramniwas Rawat v. Mukesh Malhotra & Ors. (Election Petition No. 24 of 2024)Click Here To Read/Download Order

MP High Court Nullifies Congress MLA Mukesh Malhotra's Election For Non-Disclosure Of Criminal Cases, Declares BJP Candidate As Elected

Saksham Vaishya

Tags