The Madhya Pradesh High Court on Monday set aside the election of Congress MLA Mukesh Malhotra from the Vijaypur Assembly constituency in Sheopur district, holding that he had failed to disclose pending criminal cases in the affidavit filed during the 2024 bypoll nomination process. The court declared BJP candidate Ramniwas Rawat, who finished second in the contest, as the duly elected MLA from the constituency.
The order was passed by a single bench of Justice GS Ahluwalia at the Gwalior bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court. The court ruled that Malhotra’s election was “null and void” after finding that he had concealed information about pending criminal cases while submitting his nomination affidavit.
Malhotra had won the Vijaypur by-election by a margin of 7,364 votes. However, the court found that the non-disclosure of criminal cases violated the requirement for candidates to provide complete and truthful information about their criminal antecedents while contesting elections.
Following the court’s decision, BJP candidate Ramniwas Rawat, who had secured the second-highest number of votes in the bypoll, has been declared the elected MLA from the seat.
Advocate MPS Raghuvanshi, representing Rawat, said the court annulled Malhotra’s election and declared Rawat the winner of the Vijaypur constituency. He added that the Election Commission would be informed of the High Court’s decision.
Raghuvanshi also noted that the Supreme Court has repeatedly emphasized the obligation of candidates contesting elections to disclose any pending criminal cases in their nomination affidavits.
Speaking to reporters after the judgment, Rawat alleged that Malhotra had concealed information regarding criminal cases pending against him at the time of filing his nomination.
Before the by-election, the political affiliations of the two candidates had been different. Malhotra had earlier been associated with the BJP, while Rawat was a member of the Congress party prior to the contest.
