Gujarat HC voids election win of senior BJP minister citing ‘malpractice’: Reports

In a shocker
to the Gujarat government, Justice Paresh Upadhyay’s bench of Gujarat High
Court nullified the election victory of senior cabinet minister Bhupendrasinh
Chudasama, from Dholka constituency in the 2017 assembly polls, on the grounds
of malpractice and manipulation, sources reported. Further details are awaited.

Ashwin
Rathod, Congress candidate from Dholka constituency for December 2017 Assembly
election, had moved the High Court with a petition challenging Chudasama’s
victory by a margin of 327 votes. Rathod’s petition claimed Chudasama had
indulged in “corrupt practice and breach of many of the mandatory
instructions of the Election Commission of India, at various stages of the
election process, more particularly at the time of counting of votes”.

The court
had then issued notice to the ECI, the returning officer of Dholka Asembly
constituency and an observer after making them respondents in the petition.

According to
reports, when the RO was examined, he accepted before the bench of Justice
Paresh Upadhyay that he did not follow certain instructions of the ECI while
counting the votes which led to Chudasama’s victory by a thin margin.

Since the
victory margin was less than the postal ballots rejected by the returning
officer (429), the officer should have followed the ECI’s instruction of
mandatory re-verification of all postal ballots, the court had earlier
observed. The court had then issued notice to the ECI, the returning officer of
Dholka Asembly constituency and an observer after making them respondents in
the petition.

Chudasama is
minister for Higher and Technical Education, also holding the portfolio of Law
and Justice, Parliamentary Affairs, and Civil Aviation in the Vijay Rupani
government.