New Delhi, Jan 17 The Delhi High Court on Saturday dismissed a petition by AAP leader Somnath Bharti challenging the election of BJP's Satish Upadhyay from Malviya Nagar in the 2025 Assembly polls.
Upadhyay defeated Bharti by a margin of 39,564 votes in the Delhi Assembly elections held in February last year. In his election petition, Bharti accused Upadhyay of corrupt practices under the Representation of the People Act (ROPA), alleging he deployed his agents to bring people to the polling booths in cars.
Bharti had also made certain allegations against Congress candidate Jitender Kumar Kochar in the constituency, including that Kochar's entire election campaign was exclusively against him and therefore there was a deliberate and coordinated strategy by Upadhyay to create a false contest, intended to confuse and divide the secular vote and secure an unfair electoral advantage.
In the judgment, Justice Jasmeet Singh observed that the petitioner attributed "active participation" of the Congress candidate in furthering the alleged corrupt practices and the failure to include him as a party to the election petition within the legally stipulated time frame was an "incurable defect" and "strikes at the root of maintainability of the present election petition".
"The present election petition is liable to be dismissed due to non-joinder of Mr. (Jitender Kumar) Kochar, the Congress Candidate, as a respondent and is accordingly dismissed along with I.A. No. 15470/2025," the court said.
It said an election petition was not an ordinary litigation but a special proceeding, affecting the popular mandate in a democratic process and therefore provisions of ROPA must receive a strict and narrow construction.
"The petitioner's omission to implead Mr. Kochar is not a mere technical lapse but an incurable defect, which as per the provisions of ROPA and the law declared by the Hon'ble Supreme Court, strikes at the root of maintainability of the present election petition," the court said.
The plea also claimed there was a pending criminal complaint or FIR against the BJP leader.
New Delhi, Jan 17 The Delhi High Court on Saturday dismissed a petition by AAP leader Somnath Bharti challenging the election of BJP's Satish Upadhyay from Malviya Nagar in the 2025 Assembly polls.
"The petition is dismissed," said Justice Jasmeet Singh. A detailed copy of the judgment is awaited.
Upadhyay defeated Bharti by a margin of 39,564 votes in the Delhi Assembly elections held in February last year.
In his election petition, Bharti accused Upadhyay of corrupt practices under the Representation of the People Act. The plea also claimed there was a pending criminal complaint or FIR against the BJP leader.
