In a relief for Nitin Gadkari, SC junks SLPs on 2019 Lok Sabha polls

NAGPUR: SC Wednesday dismissed a bunch of special leave petitions challenging a 2021 order of Nagpur bench of Bombay HC that struck down portions of an election petition against Union minister Nitin Gadkari's 2019 Lok Sabha victory.

A bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh upheld HC's application of procedural law, concluding there were no grounds to interfere. The petitions were filed by former Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole, who lost to Gadkari in 2019 general election, Nagpur voter Nafis Khan, and other candidates.

Although Gadkari was re-elected to LS from Nagpur in 2024 polls, the court decided to hear the matter on merit. It also directed Nagpur bench to expedite proceedings in the original 2019 election petition, which has been pending for over five years, the petitioners' counsel Shakul Ghatole told TOI.

The case stems from accusations that Gadkari, while filing his nomination in 2019, failed to fully disclose his assets and under-reported campaign expenditure, allegedly violating the Representation of People Act, 1951. In response, Gadkari filed a plea seeking deletion of certain paragraphs from the petition.

Khan's counsel argued that HC prematurely purged substantive content from the petition and failed to assess pleadings holistically. He cited precedents to assert that arguable claims should not be struck down solely on perceived weakness. SC found no merit in these submissions and upheld HC's reasoning, reiterating that courts are empowered to eliminate material that is unnecessary or obstructive to fair adjudication.