The Allahabad High Court has recently dismissed former Union Minister Maneka Gandhi’s challenge to the election of Samajwadi Party’s Ram Bhual Nishad from the Sultanpur Lok Sabha seat.
The court’s Lucknow bench determined that Gandhi’s petition was filed beyond the 45-day statutory limit for such cases, and therefore could not be considered on its merits.
Justice Rajan Rai delivered the verdict on the election petition filed by Maneka Gandhi after reserving the order on August 5 regarding its maintainability.
Senior Supreme Court advocate Siddharth Luthra, representing Gandhi via video conferencing, argued that the petition should be evaluated on its merits. Luthra contended that Nishad had failed to fully disclose his criminal history, with 12 criminal cases pending against him, although he had only reported eight in his affidavit.
The court rejected Gandhi’s plea, citing Section 81 and Section 86 of the Representation of People Act, 1951, as well as Order VII Rule 11(d) of the Code of Civil Procedure, stating that the petition was barred by time and therefore dismissed. Maneka Gandhi, who lost to Nishad by a margin of 43,174 votes, had filed the petition late last month.
