On Tuesday, the Apex Court “nipped in the bud” a plea challenging the election of PM Narendra Modi as a member of Parliament (MP) from the Varanasi constituency in Uttar Pradesh during the general election held in 2019.
The plea was moved by sacked constable of the Border Security Force (BSF) Tej Bahadur whose nomination as a candidate from the Varanasi seat was rejected by the returning officer.
On Dec 6, 2019, the High Court of Allahabad had knocked down Bahadur’s appeal on the ground that he was neither an elector nor a candidate under section 83 of the Representation of Peoples Act to challenge the winning candidate’s election.
On Tuesday, a 3-Judge Bench of the Supreme Court headed by CJI SA Bobde confirmed this view & dismissed the petition without issuing a notice to PM Modi.
“Section 83 of the Act allows only an elector or candidate to maintain an election petition…In this sense, the election petition can also be set to be barred by section 81 read with section 86(1) of the Act. We are, therefore, of the view that the present election petition has been rightly nipped in the bud. The civil appeal is therefore dismissed,” said the bench, also comprising Justices AS Bopanna & V Ramasubramanian.
The short order of 13 pages was authored by the CJI who examined the lone argument put forth by the sacked soldier that the officer who rejected his nomination failed to grant him additional time. Bahadur’s nomination was rejected as he failed to furnish a certificate from the Election Commission of India stating that his dismissal from service was on grounds other than corruption or disloyalty.
This document is essential under section 33(3) of the Representation of Peoples Act. Any candidate who has been sacked on the above ground is barred from contesting polls for five years. Bahadur was sacked in April 2017 for circulating a video on the poor quality of food supplied to BSF jawans serving for the country & hence, the production of this certificate for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls was essential.
Bahadur failed two nominations – one on April 24, 2019, as an independent candidate & later on April 29 as the candidate of the Samajwadi Party. In one form, he mentioned he was dismissed on grounds of disloyalty while in the other form he denied it. This led the returning officer to seek a certificate from EC, the absence of which led to rejection of his nomination.
Senior Lawyer Harish Salve, who appeared for the PM, informed the Court that granting additional time is left to the discretion of the returning officer & the appellant (Bahadur) cannot claim it as a matter of right.
Since there was no proof forthcoming that he demanded more time, the Court rejected this argument & said, “The appeal does not raise any arguable question of fact or law & admitting the appeal would amount to an exercise in futility for the court to do so.”
Even on the maintainability of the petition, the Supreme Court was of the view that Bahadur could not challenge the election of PM Modi as a voter of Varanasi since he was enrolled as an elector of Bhiwani, Mahendragarh parliamentary constituency in Haryana. & as his nomination stood rejected before polls, he was not a “duly nominated candidate” to maintain his present appeal.
Source LInk
