BHOPAL: The Madhya Pradesh HC declared on Monday, the 2024 November election of first-time Congress MLA Mukesh Malhotra from Vijaypur constituency “null and void” for concealing information about criminal cases in his poll affidavit.
In a battle of turncoats—Malhotra, an ex-BJP man, who joined the Congress ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls—had done the giant-killing act, defeating MP’s forest minister Ramniwas Rawat (formerly five times Congress MLA) by 7300-plus votes in the November 2024 bypoll to the Vijaypur seat of Sheopur district.
Hearing a petition filed by the ex-MLA and the loser candidate Ramniwas Rawat, the single judge MP High Court Bench of Justice GS Ahluwalia declared Malhotra’s 2024 election “null and void”. It also declared the loser BJP candidate Ramniwas Rawat as “elected” for finishing runners-up in the by-election. Rawat had challenged in the HC Malhotra’s win in the bye-election, alleging that he had concealed the details of criminal cases pending against him in his poll affidavit.
According to the petitioner BJP leader’s counsel MPS Raghuvanshi, “The country’s top court is repeatedly saying that the public representatives have to give an affidavit along with the nomination form before contesting the election in which information about their criminal record should also be given.
Information about 4 criminal cases given by him (Malhotra) was incomplete, and information about some other cases was not at all given. The HC has cancelled the election of Mukesh Malhotra and Ramniwas Rawat—who stood second in the by-election—and has been declared victorious.” The HC has given Malhotra one week to challenge the order in a higher court, while a possible stay period of 15 days is under consideration.
Importantly, the November 2024 by-election was necessitated by Rawat’s resignation as the fifth-time sitting Congress MLA in July 2024, three months after he had ended his decades-long ties with the Congress and joined the BJP ahead of 2024 national elections. He had quit the assembly membership just after being inducted into the Dr Mohan Yadav-led council of ministers as the forest minister.
Malhotra too had quit the BJP ahead of the 2024 LS polls and joined the Congress. Subsequently, the November 2024 by-election to the Vijaypur assembly constituency had seen the battle of turncoats, with former Congress MLA and then forest minister Ramniwas Rawat as the ruling party candidate taking on ex-BJP man Mukesh Malhotra as the Congress candidate.
Rawat suffered shock defeat in the by-election (which was marred by large-scale violence) to Malhotra by 7,364 votes and consequently resigned as the state’s forest minister.
Declares losing candidate, former BJP MLA winner
Hearing a petition filed by the ex-MLA and the losing candidate Ramniwas Rawat, the single judge Bench of Justice GS Ahluwalia declared Rawat as “elected” for finishing runners-up in the bye-election. Rawat had challenged in the HC Malhotra’s win in the bye-election, alleging that he had concealed the details of criminal cases pending against him in his poll affidavit.