Jaipur Rural 2024 LS Poll Plea | High Court Refuses To Drop Election Authorities As Respondents Over Conflicting Postal Ballot Figures
Nupur Agrawal
31 July 2026 2:07 PM IST
The Rajasthan High Court has dismissed an application filed by the Returning Officer, District Magistrate-cum-Returning Officer, Chief Electoral Officer and the Election Commission of India seeking deletion of their names from an election petition challenging the 2024 Lok Sabha election from the Jaipur Rural Parliamentary constituency.
A bench of Justice Vinod Kumar Bharwani opined that the authorities could not be removed from the proceedings, as the election petition was based on conflicting official records regarding rejected postal ballots; hence, their presence was necessary for the adjudication of the dispute.
Briefly put, an application was submitted by these authorities seeking deletion of their names on the ground that under Section 82 and 86(4) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (the Act), they were neither necessary nor proper parties to the election petition.
The petitioner opposed the application, arguing that the dispute directly concerned the actions of the election authorities during the election process and that they were therefore necessary parties to the proceedings.
The petitioner submitted that the returned candidate had won by a margin of 1,615 votes. The Returning Officer had earlier recorded that 1,225 postal ballots had been rejected. However, information later furnished under the Right to Information Act showed that 2,738 postal ballots had been rejected.
The petitioner submitted that in light of this contradiction, which formed the foundation of the election petition, the respondents were necessary parties to the dispute.
After hearing the contentions, the Court highlighted that, since official records reflected contradictory figures regarding rejected postal ballots and the election petition was mainly based on this inconsistency, the respondents were necessary parties to the proceedings, and their presence would assist in the effective adjudication of the dispute.
Accordingly, the Court dismissed the application seeking deletion of respondent Nos. 1 to 4 from the election petition.
Title: Anil Chopra v the Returning/assistant Returning Officer
Citation: 2026 LiveLaw (Raj) 312
