Bathinda MP Polls: HC notice to Union Minister Harsimrat Badal

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana high court on Friday issued notice to union cabinet minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal after hearing a petition challenging her election as MP from Bathinda parliamentary constituency allegedly by adopting “corrupt practices” in the elections.
She has been asked to file her reply before the court on August 29, on the contentions raised by the petitioner.
Challenging the election of Harsimrat Kaur Badal from Bathinda, the petitioner Navjot Singh of village Dabwali Dhab in Muktsar district has alleged that a she had spent more than the prescribed amount on her election campaign and also misused the Sikh religious symbols for her election campaign. According to the petitioner, the prescribed limit of incurring or authorizing expenditure on election in a parliamentary constituency by each contesting candidate was Rs. 70 lakh but Harsimrat Kaur has spent around 1.5 crore, which is beyond the limit prescribed by law.
Petitioner alleged that in her return she has shown only Rs 52, 28,950 having been spent by her in the election but she has not included the amount of Rs 5288072 spent by her on the rally of Narender Modi held on April 25 at Bathinda and the amount spent on various advertisements issued during the election time in print and electronic media.
The petitioner has also alleged that the PTC News TV Channel and Fastway Cable TV Network ran the election campaign of the SAD-BJP candidates in Punjab in general and that of Harsimrat Kaur Badal in particular. It was further alleged that right from the day of filing the nomination papers, Harsimrat was projected as ‘messiah’ for Bathinda parliamentary constituency. PTC News TV Channel and Fastway Cable TV Network were virtually running the election campaign of the Harsimrat Kaur from the front and specially designed programmes were telecast for her promotion.
The petitions, filed under Section 80 and 81 read with Section 100 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, have sought directions to set aside Harsimrat’s election as an MP and to disqualify her from election for allegedly adopting corrupt practices during the elections.