Senior BJP leader and former Cabinet Minister Maneka Gandhi on Saturday filed a petition in Lucknow High Court challenging the election of Samajwadi Party MP Ram Bhuwal Nishad from Sultanpur Lok Sabha constituency in the 2024 general elections.
Senior advocate Prashant Singh Atal filed the election petition on behalf of Maneka Gandhi. In her petition, Maneka Gandhi has claimed that there are a total of 12 criminal cases pending against SP MP Ram Bhuwal Nishad, however, while filing form-26 during the election process, he had disclosed only 8 criminal cases. It has been alleged in the Election Petition that the non-disclosure or deliberate omission of criminal cases is an act of corrupt practice and thereby covered under Section 100 of the Representation of People Act (RPA), 1951. Maneka, in her petition, has said that considering this ground alone, the election to the Sultanpur-38 Lok Sabha Election 2024 may be declared void.
Sultanpur Lok Sabha election
Notably, Maneka Gandhi was the sitting MP from Sultanpur till 2024. She won the seat in the 2019 elections by defeating BSP candidate Chandra Bhadra Singh by a thin margin of less than 15,000 votes. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Samajwadi candidate Ram Bhuwal contested against her. Nishad defeated her by a margin of over 43,000 votes. Nishad garnered 4,44,330 votes. On the other hand, Maneka got 4,01,156 votes.
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