New Delhi, February 26 The Delhi High Court on Thursday dismissed an appeal against an order that rejected a petition challenging the election of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Manish Sisodia from Patparganj in the 2020 assembly polls.
A bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia told Pratap Chandra that his appeal against the single judge's decision was not maintainable in the high court, as the Representation of the People Act stipulates that such appeals should be filed in the Supreme Court.
"How can this LPA (leave to appeal) be maintainable? Can LPAs be filed against election petitions? The appeal will go to the Supreme Court. If you want to challenge the order, the appeal goes to the Supreme Court," the court observed.
As a result, the appellant withdrew his appeal.
The appeal was dismissed as withdrawn, the court said.
On January 17, the single judge had ruled that Chandra, who contested against Sisodia as a candidate of the Rashtriya Rashtrawadi Party, had failed to establish a specific cause of action in his election petition.
Sisodia won the seat after securing 70,163 votes. The petitioner had secured 95 votes.
The petitioner had argued that while he had strictly complied with the law and ceased campaigning two days before the election, other political parties and candidates continued to campaign until the polling day, thereby vitiating the electoral process and denying him a fair opportunity.
He had also claimed that Sisodia had not disclosed the existence of a 2013 FIR against him registered under the Prevention of Insult to National Honour Act, 1971, in his nomination.
In its verdict, the court said the petitioner had only made "general allegations", without providing the material facts required under the law, which were essential for the maintainability of the election petition.
The court said that the photographs provided by the petitioner to allege violation of the "silence period" before the polls only showed generic party posters displaying the party symbol and name, without any specific reference to Sisodia.