Moti Singh, Congress’s substitute candidate from Indore Lok Sabha constituency faced a setback after the Madhya Pradesh High Court on Saturday dismissed his appeal to contest the election on the party's symbol after its original candidate withdrew from the fray.
The decision came as a shocker for Congress which has been left without a candidate in Indore after its nominee Akshay Kanti Bam withdrew his nomination on April 29, and joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
Earlier on April 30, a single bench of the High court rejected his plea following which he had challenged the decision. Justices S A Dharmadhikari and Gajendra Singh of the Indore bench of the high court on Saturday upheld the single judge's decision.
"Considering the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case and in the light of the principles laid down in the case of Election Commission of India and Manda Jagannath, we find force in the submissions made by the learned counsel for the respondents”, the court ruled.
Concluding its ruling, the division bench stated, “This appeal being bereft of merit and substance is hereby dismissed." Notably, Singh's nomination papers were rejected by the returning officer eight days ago. But when Congress nominee Bam pulled out of the election on the last date of withdrawal of nominations, Singh moved the HC, seeking concessions that he should be allowed to contest as Congress candidate.
Returning Officer already rejected his nomination
The Returning Officer had rejected his nomination during scrutiny on April 26 only on the ground that he was a substitute candidate and the original candidate (Bam) was in the fray, he contended.
According to the Election Commission, Singh's nomination had already been rejected so there was no question of allowing him to contest the election.
Meanwhile, Singh's lawyer Jayesh Gurnani has said that they were consulting legal experts about filing a special leave petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court to challenge the high court's decision. The Indore constituency will go for voting in the fourth phase of the general elections on May 13. BJP has fielded its sitting MP Shankar Lalwani.
While the BJP is claiming to win the seat with a margin of over 8 lakh votes, Congress has appealed to the voters to press NOTA (None Of The Above). During the 2019 elections, Lalwani defeated Congress' Pankaj Sanghvi by 5.48 lakh votes.
(With PTI Inputs)
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