The Delhi High Court on Monday pointed out several mistakes in AAP leader Somnath Bharti's petition challenging BJP MP Bansuri Swaraj's election in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls on grounds of alleged corrupt practices, and asked him to file a corrected one. Justice Manmeet PS Arora said at the outset that there were a lot of typographical errors which made it difficult to understand the averments in the petition.
Even the reference to respondents in the petition did not correlate with the respondents mentioned in the memo of parties and synopsis, the counsel said. The court gave Bharti 10 days to file a corrected petition and listed the matter for further hearing on August 14.
When Bharti's counsel urged the court to issue notice to the respondents on the petition, the judge said, "There are too many mistakes. Correct the petition first. I can't issue notice like this. I will simply adjourn it. Please file a corrected petition." Both Bharti and Swaraj contested from the New Delhi Lok Sabha seat. While Bharti secured 3,74,815 votes, Swaraj got 4,53,185 votes as per the returning officer, the plea said.
The petition, filed under under Section 80 and 81 of the Representation of the People Act, alleged corrupt practices by Swaraj, her election agent and other persons.
Delhi BJP on Monday alleged that Bharti filed an election petition just to be in news. Delhi BJP Spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said, “The adverse observations of Delhi High Court on the election petition filled by MLA Somnath Bharti who unsuccessfully contested the recent loksabha election against the elected BJP candidate Bansuri Swaraj have shown that Somnath Bharti is neither a good public representative nor a competent advocate.”
