The Gujarat High Court on Monday issued summons to BJP MLA Jitu Vaghani, the chief electoral officer of Gujarat, the Bhavnagar district election officer and others in a petition by the AAP’s national joint secretary Raju Solanki seeking that Vaghani’s election to the Bhavnagar West seat be declared void and set aside. The court has sought the respondents' appearance on April 21. Solanki, who contested from the constituency as an AAP candidate in the December 2022 Assembly polls, has alleged in his petition that Vaghani and his supporters from the BJP had distributed false pamphlets in the constituency during the election stating that “Aapno (can be read as ‘your candidate’ or ‘AAP’s candidate) Raju Solanki” extended his support to the returned candidate Jitubhai Vaghani. Submitting that such information was false and was circulated “to create misinformation amongst voters,” Solanki, through his advocate Punit Juneja, contended that it was done to mislead the voters to vote for the BJP. With another Raju Solanki contesting as an Independent candidate, Solanki also alleged that the Independent candidate was used by Vaghani “to seriously affect the votes of the petitioner.” The high court has also issued summons to the Independent candidate to appear before the court on April 21. It was submitted that following the incident, an FIR was registered at Ganga Jaliya police station at Bhavnagar on December 7 under section 127A (4) of the Representation of Peoples Act 1951 against the Independent candidate and owner of the printing press where the pamphlets were printed. According to the petitioner, the name of Vaghani was not added in the FIR “on whose behest the pamphlets were distributed,” the petition stated. Solanki alleged “corrupt practice” by the respondents and submitted that the election authorities “ought to have cancelled the voting in the said constituency” when the fact about the said publication of the misleading pamphlets came to light.
