Delhi High Court Notice To BJP's Bansuri Swaraj On Petition Challenging Her Election

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday issued notice to BJP MP Bansuri Swaraj on AAP leader Somnath Bharti's petition challenging her election to the Lok Sabha on grounds of alleged corrupt practices.

Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora asked Ms Swaraj to file her reply within 30 days.

Meanwhile, the court deleted former AAP minister Raaj Kumar Anand, who contested the 2024 Sabha polls on Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) ticket but joined BJP after the results, from the array of parties on the ground that no cause of action was made out against him.

Both Mr Bharti and Ms Swaraj contested from the New Delhi Lok Sabha seat.

While Mr Bharti secured 3,74,815 votes, Ms Swaraj polled 4,53,185.

The petition, filed under Sections 80 and 81 of the Representation of the People Act, accused Bansuri Swaraj, her election agent, and others of having engaged in corrupt practices.

The plea also alleged that Raaj Kumar Anand contested the election on a Bahujan Samaj Party ticket to help Ms Swaraj by cutting into AAP's vote share. Later, on July 10, he joined the BJP, the plea said.

It said Mr Anand was a minister in the Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi and was active in campaigning for Bharti till April 9 before suddenly resigning from the party on April 10.

On the election day, the petitioner was shocked during his visits to polling booths across the constituency to see that Swaraj's polling agents had pamphlets displaying her ballot number, photo, election symbol and photograph of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and were showing them to the voters and asking them to vote for ballot no.1, the plea claimed.

"...such an act certainly qualifies to be a corrupt practice. This was also reported to the respondent no. 3 (returning officer) but all in vain," it alleged.

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