Judgment reserved on plea challenging Sushma Swaraj`s election

Madhya Pradesh HC reserved its judgment on Tuesday on a petition challenging the election of Sushma Swaraj from the Vidisha Constituency.

Jabalpur: The Madhya Pradesh High Court reserved its judgment on Tuesday on a petition challenging the election of Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj from the Vidisha Constituency after watching video-recording of the nomination process.

The court of Acting Chief Justice K K Lahoti reserved its judgment after watching the CD of the nomination process which was shown to him as per his earlier directive in the case. Former minister and Congress leader Rajkumar Patel, who was not allowed to file papers related to his candidature on the last day of filing nominations, as the time was over, had challenged Swaraj`s election after the 2009 Lok Sabha polls. Patel claimed that though he had reached on time to file his nomination, the District Electoral Officer did not accept it on the ground that the time to file nomination papers was over that day. Patel contended that though he had reached the office on time that day, he was asked to wait, because other candidates were filing their nominations, but when his turn came, he was told that the time was over. During an earlier hearing in the case, Swaraj had also filed an application in the court, urging it to reject the petition, after which the court had directed that the CD containing a video-recording of the nomination process on October 22, be shown to it. After watching the CD for nearly 45 minutes in presence of both parties, the court decided to reserve its judgment on the issue.