AAP leader Raghav Chadha challenges result of South Delhi parliamentary election in Delhi HC

AAP leader Raghav Chadha on Thursday filed a petition in the Delhi High Court challenging the results of the election held in the South Delhi parliamentary constituency in May 2019.

"The election of the BJP candidate Ramesh Bidhuri is vitiated by the corrupt practices of undue influence committed by the candidate inasmuch as by failing to disclose material particulars regarding his criminal antecedents, the BJP candidate has affected the free exercise of electoral rights of the citizens of the National Capital Territory of Delhi," the petition stated.

The matter will be heard by a single bench helmed by Justice Navin Chawla on July 5.

Bidhuri won the Lok Sabha elections from the South Delhi parliamentary seat beating Chadha by a margin of over 3.6 lakh votes.

The petition alleges that the BJP candidate had concealed the information of an FIR filed against him and had also not divulged the full details of his source of income.

"The BJP candidate willfully and intentionally concealed the factum of registration of an FIR against him in police station Kazi Mohammadpur, Muzaffarpur, Bihar, under Sections 504, 506, 153 and 153(a) of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 pursuant to orders passed in CC No 303/2018. The BJP candidate further ex facie declared false incomes in respect of his income, his spouse's income, as well as his first dependant's income. The BJP candidate failed to comply with the requirements of publication of the criminal antecedents of the candidate on the website and in newspapers as mandated by Public Interest Foundation v Union of India, (2019) 3 SCC 224," the petition added.

The petition further added that Bidhuri had also not disclosed the particulars of incidents which included his speech and actions against people hailing from Bihar and the Purvanchal region.

"It is submitted that the BJP candidate has, by concealing information despite filing an affidavit, has set at naught the fundamental right to information of the citizens of the National Capital Territory of Delhi and the BJP Candidate wilfully and intentionally chose to not disclose particulars of CC No 303/2018, in as much as the same discloses particulars of his speeches or actions against citizens of the National Capital Territory of Delhi who hail from the state of Bihar and from the Purvanchal region," it read.