The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the Gujarat High Court’s order cancelling the election of Bharatiya Janata Party leader and state Cabinet minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama on grounds of malpractice and manipulation, Live Law reported.
A bench headed by Justice MM Shantanagouder issued a notice to the Election Commission and Congress leader Ashwin Rathod, Chudasama’s rival in the 2017 Assembly elections, on the appeal filed by him on Wednesday, according to Hindustan Times.
On Tuesday, the Gujarat High Court had cancelled Chudasama’s election from the Dholka constituency in Ahmedabad in 2017. He had won by a margin of 327 votes.
The court’s action came on a petition filed by Rathod. The Congress leader alleged that Chudasama indulged in corrupt practices and violated “many of the mandatory instructions of the Election Commission” at various stages of the election process, especially during the counting of votes for the Assembly elections in 2017. He added that the returning officer had manipulated the counting process, giving his opponent an unfair lead over him, and demanded a re-verification of 429 postal ballots.
In his appeal to the top court, Chudasama argued that the Gujarat High Court had ignored the legal distinction between a postal ballot and a vote. Chudasama added that at the time of the declaration of results, no written complaint came from Rathod or his counting agents regarding the rejection of 429 postal ballots.
Chudasama currently holds education, law and justice, legislative and parliamentary affairs, and some other departments in the Vijay Rupani-led government.
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