HC rejects Mahajan’s plea for dismissal of Singhvi’s petition

The HP High Court today dismissed the application of Harsh Mahajan, BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP, seeking the dismissal of the election petition filed by Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi challenging his election.

Mahajan alleged in his application that material facts had not been stated in the petition and any cause of action against him.

While rejecting the contentions raised by Mahajan in his application, Justice Jyotsna Rewal Dua observed, “The election petition discloses all material facts as are required to be disclosed in law. No material fact upon which the petitioner/non-applicant relies, be it positive or negative, has been concealed in the petition.”

Justice Jyotsna Rewal Dua observed that “The petitioner/non-applicant has made out a cause of action in his petition. The petitioner has alleged non-compliance of statutory provisions by the Returning Officer (RO).”

The court observed that “according to the case set up by the petitioner (Singhvi), the RO had not acted as per mandate of Section 65 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. It is only this provision that expressly provides for the manner in which a candidate is to be declared elected in the given case of equality of votes. According to the petitioner, the Returning Officer had erroneously invoked Rules 75(4) and 81(3) of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, during Proceedings for Counting of Votes and has further pleaded that even these rules were also not correctly applied. A clear cause of action has been pleaded.”

The court further observed that “In view of above discussion, I find no merit in any of the contentions raised by the respondent/applicant for rejecting the election petition filed by the petitioner/non-applicant. Consequently, this application moved by the respondent/applicant is dismissed.”

Mahajan and Singhvi contested biennial elections to Council of States on February 15, 2024, from the single seat in the state of Himachal. They were the only candidates for the said seat. On counting, both secured 34 votes each. The Returning Officer proceeded to determine the result by draw of lots and declared Mahajan elected.

The Congress leader had challenged the election process on the ground that wrong method was adopted by the Returning Officer, while declaring the result of the Rajya Sabha seat.

While dismissing Mahajan’s application, the court granted him to file his reply to the main election petition within two weeks.