CHANDIGARH: In a major relief to MP Subhash Chandra, the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Thursday dismissed an election petition that challenged his election.
Justice PB Bajanthri passed the order based on an application filed by Chandra for dismissing the election petition against him by senior lawyer RK Anand who also contested these elections against Chandra.
Anand had alleged that he had learnt through sources that Chandra had met the returning officer at the Vidhan Sabha in the presence of several people a day before the election and was shown a violet colour sketch pen that was to be used for marking votes on ballot papers the following day. The official pen was removed from the polling area in a clandestine and dishonest manner in an effort to sabotage the election, he had claimed.
Senior advocates Mohan Jain and Vikram Jain had argued that the petitioner was bound to file an affidavit along with the election petition in a prescribed form in support of corrupt practice allegations as per provisions in Section 83 (1) of the Representation of People Act, 1951.
Jain said that the Supreme Court had held that affidavit was an integral part of election petition, but the petitioner violated the mandatory provisions of law and so the election petition was liable to be dismissed.
In his petition, Anand had challenged the elections held on June 11 last year for both Rajya Sabha seats from Haryana in which Chandra and Union Minister Birender Singh had won.