The Madhya Pradesh High Court on Tuesday rejected a plea by Congress leader Moti Singh Patel to contest the Lok Sabha elections from the Indore seat. Patel’s plea came after the official Congress candidate, Akshay Kanti Bam, withdrew and joined the BJP a day earlier, leaving the Congress without a candidate in Indore.
Patel’s nomination had been initially rejected during the scrutiny process on April 25, the same day Bam’s candidature was approved. Following Bam’s unexpected withdrawal, Patel sought to have his nomination reconsidered and to be allowed to contest the elections using the Congress symbol.
Presenting Patel’s case before Justice Vivek Rusia, counsel Vibhor Khandelwal argued that with Bam’s withdrawal, there was a need to scrutinize and accept Patel’s nomination. However, the court found that Patel was treated as a substitute candidate because Bam’s form had already been accepted, and Patel did not raise any objections at that time.
The Election Commission of India’s counsel, Mini Ravindran, pointed to guidelines for returning officers, which stipulate that a substitute candidate can only step in if the party’s approved candidate’s nomination is rejected, and the substitute’s name had already been communicated to the election officials.
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Justice Rusia noted that according to the election handbook, a substitute candidate is required to file part-II of the nomination paper with 10 proposers or submit another nomination form as an independent candidate. The court observed that the conditions for Patel to step in as a substitute were not met, leading to the dismissal of the petition as “misconceived.”
