SUPREME COURT FUMES AT BENGAL BJP LEADER DELAYING HEARING ON ELECTION PETITION

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday pulled up Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kalyan Chaubey for “willfully and deliberately” delaying proceedings in an election petition that challenged the 2021 election results for the Maniktala assembly seat in Kolkata and blocked holding a by-election after the death of the winning candidate in February 2022.

The bench, which put the BJP leader on notice, also expressed its displeasure that the high court hadn’t decided the case despite its August 2023 order to expeditiously deliver its ruling on the election petition.

On BJP’s Kalyan Chaubey, the top court said it was satisfied that he was “adopting delaying tactics” and proposed that the high court holds daily hearings to ensure the proceedings end by June 30. The bench also explored the possibility of relieving him from the posts of All India Football Federation (AIFF) president and Indian Olympics Association (IOA) joint secretary.

“Let show cause notice be issued as to why he should not be directed to be released from the posts of President, AIFF and chief executive officer and joint secretary, IOA. It will allow respondent to fully concentrate on election petition proceedings,” a bench of justices Surya Kant and PS Narasimha said, a reference to Chaubey citing his preoccupations on account of IOA and AIFF to request adjournments before the high court.

The bench also asked why Chaubey should not be told to give an undertaking that he didn’t have an objection to the high court holding daily hearings. “Further, if respondent does not appear, we shall explore to secure his presence by issuing a non-bailable warrant as we are convinced he is avoiding the proceeding deliberately and willfully.”

Chaubey rushed to the Calcutta high court soon after losing the Maniktala seat to All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) candidate Sadhan Pande in the 2021 West Bengal assembly elections. Pande, a three-time MLA, died in February 2022 but the by-election was not held because of the pending election petition. The law doesn’t allow a by-election to be held as long as the election petition is pending,

Three residents of Maniktala in May last year approached the Supreme Court through advocate Mithu Jain to seek directions to expedite the election petition proceedings. They said that under Section 151A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, no constituency can remain vacant or unrepresented and a by-election for filling such vacancy has to be held within six months.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi appearing for the residents on Friday underlined that an election petition had to be decided within six months. But in this case, 32 months have already lapsed.

“We are constrained to observe that the request made to the high court on August 18, 2023 has not been appreciated in the right perspective,” the top court said, keeping the possibility open to transfer the petition to the Delhi high court.

Following the August 18 order, the high court took up the case 12 times. Of these, only five were effective hearings. On other occasions, Chaubey moved applications citing prior engagements due to the Asian Games, official engagements, and health reasons due to which his statement could not be recorded by the high court.

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2024-04-26T10:18:26Z dg43tfdfdgfd