The Supreme Court is set to hear a plea filed by former Union Minister Maneka Gandhi today, challenging the election of Samajwadi Party’s Rambhual Nishad as the MP from Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh.
According to the causelist published on the apex court’s website, a bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan will take up the matter for hearing on September 20.
Earlier, the Allahabad High Court had dismissed Maneka Gandhi’s election petition, citing that it was time-barred under Section 81, read with Section 86, of the Representation of the People (RP) Act, 1951.
Under Section 81 of the RP Act, an election petition must be filed within 45 days from the date of the election of the returned candidate. Justice Rajan Roy of the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court noted that the returned candidate, Rambhual Nishad, was elected on June 4, but Maneka Gandhi filed her petition on July 27, beyond the 45-day limit.
In its judgment delivered on August 14, Justice Roy’s single-judge bench stated, “The election petition has apparently been filed beyond the period of 45 days prescribed in Section 81 of the Act. Section 86 of the Act mandates that the High Court shall dismiss any election petition that does not comply with Section 81, 82, or 117 of the Act.”
The high court also noted that there is no provision under the RP Act to condone delays or extend the limitation period. It further observed, “Under the repealed Section 85, there was a provision for condonation of delay in filing election petitions, but no such provision exists in the current RP Act.”
In her petition, Maneka Gandhi argued that the Samajwadi Party leader had failed to disclose four pending criminal cases against him and submitted a false affidavit.
Maneka Gandhi lost to Rambhual Nishad by a margin of 43,174 votes in Sultanpur, where Nishad secured 4,44,330 votes compared to Gandhi’s 4,01,156 votes.
