The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed the petition for re-election to 20 seats in Haryana and refused to stay the swearing-in ceremony of the party. New state cabinet under Nayab Singh Saini of BJP.
A three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud, rejected the request. “What kind of requests are these?” CJI Chandrachud said during the hearing, he added, “Do you want the elected government to be barred from taking oath? We are putting you on alert; we will dispose of the matter with costs”.
In the recently held assembly elections, the BJP returned to power by winning 48 seats out of 90, while the Congress managed to win only 37 seats. After the announcement of the results on October 8, Congress has raised allegations of EVM tampering and said that they cannot accept the results of the vote.
Advocate Narender Mishra’s plea on behalf of Priya Mishra and Vikas Bansal, sought an urgent hearing, raising concerns about malfunctioning Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in 20 Assembly constituencies. The petitioner also brought up the representation of the Congress in the Election Commission, highlighting these issues.
During the brief hearing, the CJI warned that costs may be imposed on the petitioners. He also instructed the lawyer to submit the documents if he wishes to contest the case on the same day.
The CJI issued a brief order saying, “Seized and dismissed”.
However, the Congress issued an explanation, distancing itself from the petition. “This petition has not been approved by the Indian National Congress or the AICC Law, Human Rights, and RTI Department. The petition was filed without the knowledge and consent of the leadership of the Indian National Congress,” the party said in a statement.
The clarification was issued after the petitioners, Priya Mishra and Vikas Bansal, claimed to be Congress activists. However, Congress has insisted that it has nothing to do with the case.
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