SC stays poll petition proceedings against Sushma Swarajn

The Supreme Court today stayed the proceedings in the Madhya Pradesh High Court on a petition filed against BJP MP Sushma Swaraj by her rival Congress nominee Rajkumar Patel seeking annulment of her election from Vidisha during the last Lok Sabha polls.

A bench comprising justices S S Nijjar and A K Sikri also issued notice and sought response within four weeks from Patel on Swaraj's petition challenging the December 3, 2013 order of the high court rejecting her plea.

The Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha moved the apex court after the high court declined to grant relief on her application seeking dismissal of Patel's petition.

While granting stay on the high court proceedings, the bench noted that it took almost five years in dealing with the matter.

"This is very disturbing as the interim application has been pending since 2009," the bench observed.

Patel's nomination was rejected from Vidisha seat on the last day of nomination during the 2009 Lok Sabha polls after he failed to submit the necessary documents (Form-B) on time to the District Electoral Officer.

Later, the Congress nominee filed an election petition alleging the District Electoral Officer had wrongly rejected his nomination papers and demanded annulment of Swaraj's election.

In his petition, Patel claimed his representative was inside the Electoral Office well before the stipulated time and this could be verified from video-recording of the process of filing nominations.

However, Swaraj filed an application objecting to Patel's petition on the ground that it was baseless and also for not providing certified copies of the petition and relevant orders of the High Court and the Supreme Court.