The Delhi High Court on Thursday (February 26) refused to hear an appeal against a single judge order that dismissed a challenge to AAP leader Manish Sisodia’s election from Patparganj in the 2020 Delhi Assembly polls.
A Division Bench of Chief Justice D.K. Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia held that the appeal did not lie before the High Court. The Bench said the appellant must move the Supreme Court under Section 116A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
Remedy lies before Supreme Court
The Bench told the appellant to read Section 116A. It indicated that a party can file a direct appeal before the Supreme Court against a final High Court order in election petition proceedings.
After the Court pointed this out, the appellant sought permission to withdraw the appeal.
Appeal dismissed as withdrawn
Recording the request, the Court dismissed the matter as withdrawn.
It said: “On being pointed out that the impugned order is appealable under Section 116A of RPA before the Supreme Court, the appellant seeks to withdraw the appeal. Accordingly, the appeal is dismissed as withdrawn.”
Who filed the appeal
Pratap Chandra filed the appeal. He had contested against Sisodia in 2020 as a candidate of the Rashtriya Rashtrawadi Party. Chandra appeared in person before the court.
Allegations in the election challenge
In the election petition, Chandra alleged that Sisodia continued campaigning and displayed election material during the prohibited 48-hour silence period before polling ended.
He also claimed that Sisodia failed to disclose an FIR from 2013 under the Prevention of Insult to National Honour Act, 1971. Chandra argued that this amounted to suppression of material facts.
What the single judge held
The single judge rejected the election petition. The court noted that it had not framed charges in the criminal case cited by Chandra.
The court also noted that Chandra did not plead that Sisodia knew about the FIR. It further held that Chandra failed to show a specific cause of action in the petition.
Case title: PRATAP CHANDRA v. MR. MANISH SISODIA & ORS
