AAP leader Somnath Bharti’s petition to challenge BJP MP Bansuri Swaraj’s election in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls on the grounds of alleged corrupt practices was flagged by the Delhi High Court on Monday. The court pointed out several mistakes in the petition and asked Bharti to file a corrected one.
The petition’s averments were difficult to understand due to numerous typographical errors, according to Justice Manmeet PS Arora’s opening statement.
The attorney claimed that not even the reference to respondents in the petition matched the respondents listed in the synopsis and memo of parties.
The court scheduled a follow-up hearing for August 14 and granted Mr. Bharti ten days to submit an amended petition.
The judge stated, “There are too many mistakes,” in response to Mr. Bharti’s attorney’s request that the court notify the respondents to the petition. First, make corrections to the petition. This is not how I can give notice. I’ll just call a halt to it. Kindly submit an updated petition.”
Mr. Bharti and Ms. Swaraj ran for the Lok Sabha seat representing New Delhi.
According to the returning officer, Ms. Swaraj received 4,53,185 votes, while Mr. Bharti received 3,74,815 votes, according to the plea.
The petition claimed corrupt practices by Ms. Swaraj, her election agent, and other individuals. It was filed under Sections 80 and 81 of the Representation of the People Act.
The plea further claimed that Raaj Kumar Anand, a former minister of the AAP, ran for office on a Bahujan Samaj Party ticket in an attempt to support Ms. Swaraj by reducing her vote share. He later joined the BJP on July 10, according to the plea.
According to the report, Mr. Anand was a minister in the Delhi government of the Aam Aadmi Party. He actively supported Mr. Bharti until April 9 and abruptly left the party on April 10.
During his visits to booths throughout the constituency on election day, the petitioner claimed he was taken aback to discover that Ms. Swaraj’s booth agents had leaflets with her ballot number, picture, election symbol, and a picture of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on them. “They were showing the same to the voters who had lined up in the booth to vote and asking them to vote for Ballot no. 1,” the plea said.
“This behavior definitely meets the definition of a corrupt practice. It claimed that this was also reported in vain to Respondent No. 3 (the returning officer).
