The Supreme Court on Friday stayed a decision of the Gujarat High Court which nullified the 2017 election of law and education minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama on grounds of malpractice and manipulation.
A bench of Justices Mohan M. Shantanagoudar and R. Subhash Reddy passed the interim order, issuing notice on the BJP leader’s plea and sought a response from Congress candidate Ashwin Rathod, who had lost that election by a mere 327 votes, among others.
Congress leader Kapil Sibal, arguing for his party colleague, said that if the votes had not been counted in the first place, they could not be declared as rejected.
Gujarat Congress President Amit Chavda hailed the high court’s order, calling it a “victory of truth and defeat of the manner in which the BJP misuses power and government offices for its gain”.
Chudasama is currently the minister for law and justice, legislative and parliamentary affairs, education and some other departments in the Vijay Rupani government.
Congress’s Ashwin Rathod had filed the petition, alleging Mr Chudasama indulged in corrupt practices and violated “many mandatory instructions of Election Commission” at various stages of the polling process, especially during counting of votes.
The assembly election that year brought the BJP back to office in Gujarat, with the party winning 99 of the state’s 182 assembly seats. The Congress stood second with 77 seats.