Lucknow, The Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court on Wednesday rejected the petition of BJP leader Maneka Gandhi challenging the election of SP MP Ram Bhual Nishad from Sultanpur. The bench said that the petition was filed after the statutory period of 45 days for filing such cases, so the petition cannot be heard on merits.

What was said in the decision?

A bench of Justice Rajan Rai gave its verdict on the election petition filed by Maneka. The bench had reserved its order on August 5 regarding the admissibility of the petition. Senior Supreme Court lawyer Siddharth Luthra, who appeared on behalf of Maneka through video conference, had told the bench on August 5 that the petition should be decided on merits, because Ram Bhual Nishad, who was elected from Sultanpur seat in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, deprived the voters of the right to know his entire criminal past.

Luthra had argued that the delay in filing the petition should be condoned. He had argued that 12 criminal cases are pending against Nishad, while he had given information about only eight cases in his affidavit. Rejecting Maneka's argument, the bench said, 'This election petition is liable to be dismissed due to lapse of time under Section 81 read with Section 86 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 and Order Seven, Rule 11 (D) of the Code of Civil Procedure. Nishad defeated BJP candidate Maneka Gandhi from Sultanpur seat in the Lok Sabha elections by a margin of 43,174 votes. Maneka had filed the petition last month.