The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear a petition by Aam Aadmi Party leader Somnath Bharti challenging the election of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Satish Upadhyay from the Malviya Nagar constituency in the 2025 Delhi Assembly polls.
A bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta announced that they would grant leave and hear the legal dispute, which appeals a Delhi High Court decision from earlier this year. Upadhyay had won the February 2025 election against Bharti by a margin of 2,131 votes.
High Court Dismissal
Bharti approached the apex court after the Delhi High Court dismissed his original election petition on January 17. The High Court had rejected the plea on the grounds of non-joinder, noting that Bharti had failed to include the Congress candidate, Jitender Kumar Kochar, as a respondent in the case.
According to the High Court, omitting Kochar was not a minor technical issue but an incurable defect under the Representation of the People Act, 1951. The court emphasized that election petitions are special proceedings that directly affect the popular mandate, requiring a strict and narrow interpretation of the law rather than being treated as standard civil litigation.
Allegations of Corrupt Electoral Practices
In his original petition, Bharti accused Upadhyay of violating the 1951 Act by deploying agents to transport voters to polling booths in cars.
Bharti also alleged that Upadhyay coordinated a deliberate strategy to create a false contest to split the secular vote and gain an unfair advantage. He claimed that the entire campaign of the Congress candidate, Kochar, was directed solely against his candidacy.
