SC to hear in open court review plea of Devendra Fadnavis in election affidavit case

Fadnavis is accused of suppressing information in his 2014 election affidavit about two forgery and criminal defamation cases pending against him in a Nagpur court.

"Application(s) seeking oral hearing of the review petitions in open court is/are allowed," an order by a three-judge bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra stated.

On October 1, the Apex Court had directed the trial court to continue with the case against Fadnavis under Section125-A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, which deals with the penalty for filing false information in an election affidavit.

Fadnavis had filed the plea before the top court seeking to review the judgement in an open court.

The apex court decision had come on an appeal filed by Satish Ukey, a lawyer, against a Bombay High Court decision by which it had set aside a sessions court go-ahead to try Fadnavis.

A trial court had earlier rejected Ukey's plea.

The then Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi had held that a "contesting candidate is mandated to furnish information concerning the cases in which a competent court has taken cognizance, along with the cases in which charges have been framed."

The top court had also held that the election affidavit under Form 26 of the Conduct of Election Rules of 1961, submitted to the poll officer along with the nomination papers, should detail not only cases in which charges had been filed but also those which had been taken cognizance of.