Supreme Court upholds HC order to strike out vague allegations against Nitin Gadkari in election petition

The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld an order of the Bombay High Court that had ordered deletion of certain allegations in an election petition challenging Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari's victory to Lok Sabha from the Nagpur constituency in 2019 general elections [Md. Nafis v. Nitin Jairam Gadkari]..A Bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice NK Singh observed that the allegation of non-disclosure against Gadkari was rightly construed by the High Court as a vague averment, lacking specific particulars or supporting material facts.The Court further noted that the allegations regarding non-disclosure of election expenses were broad and lacking in clarity, making it difficult for the High Court or the election tribunal to arrive at a conclusive opinion."The allegation of non-disclosure by the returning candidate rightly been construed by the High Court as vague allegation averment, which doesn't specify nature of allegations without any material facts. Similar is the fate of the vague and wide allegation of alleged .... drawn by returning candidate of more than 56 stocks in mock trail of EVMs. In any case the allegation doesn't materially affect the outcome of election. Likewise, the allegation of non-disclosure of election expenses or the same being in excess of permissible limits are too vague and wide for High Court or Election Tribunal to render a definite opinion. In the light of above," the Court observed..The Court was dealing with two pleas — one filed by Nafis Khan, a voter from the Nagpur constituency, and another candidate who had contested against Gadkari in the 2019 elections.In February 2021, the Nagpur Bench of the High Court had rejected Gadkari's plea seeking quashing of the election petition against him.However, the Court had partly allowed another application moved by Gadkari to strike down certain averments in Nafis Khan's petition. Khan then moved the top court..The top agreed with the High Court decision but took note that the election petitions related to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections are still pending before the High Court. It thus urged the High Court to promptly hear the matter."We are informed that elections petitions are still pending before High court awaiting the outcome of these proceedings. Since the matter pertains to Lok Sabha elections in 2019, we request the High Court to proceed with the pending election petitions and dispose off the same," the Court ordered.