Delhi High Court tells Somnath Bharti to correct errors in petition

The Delhi High Court on Monday said there were several typographical errors in Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Somnath Bharti’s petition challenging the election of BJP MP Bansuri Swaraj in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections over alleged corrupt practices.

Judge Manmeet PS Arora said the errors made it difficult to understand the petition’s contentions. The judge gave Mr Bharti 10 days to file a corrected petition and fixed a date for a further hearing on August 14.

Both Mr Bharti and Ms Swaraj had contested the Lok Sabha elections from the New Delhi constituency. Mr Bharti had lost to Ms Swaraj by over 70,000 votes.

In his petition, Mr Bharti alleged that on May 25, when New Delhi had gone to polls, he had seen Ms Swaraj’s polling booth agents displaying pamphlets with her ballot number, her photo, the election symbol and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s photo, asking them to vote for her. The petitioner claimed that he had informed the electoral officer about this, but to no avail.

The suit also claims that Ms Swaraj’s expenses were more than the permissible expenditure for Lok Sabha elections, which is Rs 95 lakh per candidate, and that former AAP minister Raaj Kumar Anand contested the elections on a Bahujan Samaj Party ticket to help Ms Swaraj by reducing her vote share. He later joined the BJP on July 10, the suit said.

During the hearing, when Mr Bharti’s counsel urged the High Court to issue a notice on the petition, the court said, “There are too many errors. Please correct the petition first. I cannot issue a notice in this manner. I will simply adjourn it. Please file a corrected petition.”

Meanwhile, Mr Bharti said in a statement that he agreed with the court’s observations and said it is better that the errors are corrected first. “KC Mittal, a veteran lawyer in election matters and a prominent face in the Delhi High Court and the Delhi High Court Bar and Advocates Association, is the advocate representing me in this matter. Mr Mittal has agreed with the directions of the Hon’ble Court,” said Mr Bharti, who is also a lawyer.

Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor came down heavily on Bharti and said the court’s observation has shown why Bharti is “neither a good public representative nor a competent advocate”. “The court’s refusal to accept Somnath Bharti’s petition today also shows why Arvind Kejriwal does not trust his party’s in-house lawyers for his bail applications and seeks help from Congress party advocates,” Kapoor said.