New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notice on a plea by former Union Minister Maneka Gandhi against an order passed by the Allahabad High Court, dismissing her election petition against successful Samajwadi Party candidate Rambhual Nishad in the Sultanpur constituency in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Maneka Gandhi lost to Nishad by a margin of 43,174 votes in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The matter came up before a bench comprising justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh. The bench said it was not willing to consider her plea challenging the validity of Section 81 of the Representation of People Act, 1951.
Senior advocate Sidharth Luthra, representing Maneka Gandhi, contended that the provision needs to be revisited and the question was if all the criminal cases pending against a candidate could be suppressed. However, the bench said if it were to entertain this contention then it would amount to legislation. The bench emphasised that it would open floodgates of election petitions.
Maneka Gandhi has challenged the limitation of 45 days imposed for filing an election petition. The High Court in August last year, had dismissed her petition for being barred by Section 81 read with Section 86 of the Act of 1951. Mankea Gandhi, in the appeal filed in the apex court, questioned the correctness of the High Court order dismissing her election petition challenging the election of Nishad for being time-barred.
Maneka Gandhi contended that Nishad had deprived the voters of their right to know his full criminal history, hence, the delay in filing the petition should be condoned. The plea contended that 12 criminal cases were pending against Nishad but he had given information on only eight in his affidavit.
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