Guj HC rejects Vaghela's plea against 2009 poll result

Gujarat High court on Friday rejected senior Congress leader Shankersinh Vaghela's petition challenging the election result of 2009 Lok Sabha election, which he had lost with at narrow margin to nearest rival of BJP, Prabhatsinh Chauhan.

Justice J C Upadhyaya while pronouncing the judgement in the matter held that there were no corrupt practices applied by Chauhan during the Lok Sabha election of 2009.

Vaghela, in July 2009 had challenged the result of Panchmahal constituency where he had lost by 2,081 votes to Chauhan. Citing numerous instances in his petition, Vaghela had demanded that election of Chauhan to Lok Sabha be declared null and void and fresh elections conducted for the seat.

In his petition, the former chief minister of Gujarat had alleged that during the election campaign Chauhan had resorted to corrupt practices by inciting people on communal lines.

He had further claimed that there were incidents of booth capturing in Panchmahal parliamentary constituency and bogus voting during the Lok Sabha elections in Gujarat on April 30, 2009.

The former Union textile minister also alleged that the affidavit filed by his opponent Chauhan with the Election Commission had incorrect information.

During the course of hearing Chauhan had approached the Supreme Court in 2010 seeking to quash the petition filed by Vaghela in the Gujarat High Court. However, the Apex Court had rejected his plea and said that it was upto the high court to decide the matter.