HC dismisses plea for rejecting AAP minister’s nomination for Delhi polls

The Delhi high court on Monday dismissed a plea seeking directions to the Election Commission of India (ECI) to set aside minister Mukesh Kumar Ahlawat’s nomination for the February 5 Delhi assembly elections for allegedly filing a false affidavit concealing information.

A bench of Justice Subramonium Prasad said one Satish Chauhan’s petition was not maintainable. “How is it maintainable [as an election petition] in the eyes of the law? A false affidavit given to the returning officer is an offence under section 125A of the Representation of People’s Act. I am dismissing the plea straight on the grounds that you are not calling any particular election in question,” the court told Chauhan’s lawyer Deepak Chauhan.

On January 29, Justice Jyoti Singh rejected the plea on the grounds of maintainability and asked Chauhan to file an election petition.

Chauhan said Ahlawat, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate from Sultanpur Majra, filed his nomination suppressing information regarding his criminal antecedents and assets. The plea added that Ahlawat also allegedly suppressed information while contesting elections in 2008 and 2020 polls.

The court turned down Chauhan plea seeking directions for the ECI to stop Ahlwat’s pensionary and consequential benefits. It said the ECI was not empowered to pass such orders. “You are seeking to put the pension on hold. It is not a work of the Election Commission.”