Nagpur: The Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court dismissed two election petitions challenging the victory of Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, adjudicating that the claims were legally insufficient and did not show any substantive impact on the results.
The petitions, filed by advocates Santosh Chavan and Suraj Mishra, accused the Nagpur MP and his BJP workers of electoral malpractices, including distributing voter slips featuring his photograph and the BJP symbol at polling booths. Mishra further alleged that party workers utilised software to generate voter details and print slips, violating the Model Code of Conduct.
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Saturday 22 March 2025
However, Justice Urmila Joshi-Phalke rejected the petitions, citing multiple legal deficiencies. The court held that under Section 82(a) of the Representation of Peoples Act (RP Act), petitioners seeking to declare themselves or another candidate as the winner must include all contesting candidates as respondents. Since the petitioners failed to fulfil this requirement, their petitions were deemed invalid under Section 86(1) of the Act.
Additionally, the court ruled that the allegations lacked precision and failed to establish any material influence on the election results. “The pleadings do not specify who procured or utilised the machines, or whether they were used with the consent of the returned candidate. Without such crucial particulars, the allegations fail to constitute corrupt practices,” the order stated.
The judgement emphasised that for an election to be declared void under Section 100(1)(d)(iv) of the RP Act, the petitioner must provide substantial evidence proving that the alleged malpractice had a decisive effect on the outcome. Since this was not demonstrated, the case held no merit.
Further, the court directed Mishra to pay the legal costs incurred by Gadkari, as permitted under Section 119 of the RP Act, which allows a winning candidate to recover expenses in cases of failed election challenges.
Senior advocate Sunil Manohar represented Gadkari, while the petitioners argued their cases personally.
