The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain a plea of Rashtriya Janata Dal candidate Sweta Suman challenging the rejection of her nomination papers on the grounds of "fake" caste certificate for the Bihar assembly elections from Mohania reserved assembly seat.
A bench comprising Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran said once the election process has been set in motion, the courts cannot interfere with it.
“File an election petition,” the CJI said.
Sensing the outcome, the counsel for the RJD leader sought to withdraw the petition with a liberty to file an election petition later.
“The petition is allowed to be withdrawn with the liberty to take recourse available in law,” the CJI said.
On November 3, the Patna High Court dismissed her petition against the rejection of her nomination papers from the Mohania reserved constituency in Kaimur district.
Suman had approached the high court assailing an order of the Election Officer of October 22 which rejected her nomination on the grounds that the caste certificate she submitted might not be genuine, based on a report by the Circle Officer, Durgawati.
A single-judge bench of Justice A Abhishek Reddy held that the court could not entertain such petitions once the election process had commenced, citing the constitutional bar under Article 329(b) and the statutory remedies provided under the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
“Once the election process has commenced, no writ petitions or cases other than election petitions can be entertained,” the high court said, adding judicial interference at this stage would “directly affect and delay the ongoing election process.” The Mohania constituency, reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates, goes to the polls on November 11 in the second phase of the Bihar Assembly elections.
The polling for the first phase was held on Thursday.
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