Bombay HC rejects Rajan Vichare’s plea challenging Thane MP Naresh Mhaske’s win

“Mhaske was not required to disclose his conviction of a criminal offence, particularly where the conviction had not resulted in imprisonment of one year or more. The election petition accordingly fails to disclose a cause of action. The election petition would suffer from an incurable defect and is barred by law on the face of the petition. This having considered that the petitioner’s cause of action being failure on the part of the respondent Mhaske to disclose that he has been convicted of a criminal offence,” the HC held.

Justice Chagla also observed that “respondent Mhaske has made out a case for dismissal of the election petition” and “the balance of convenience also lies in favour of Mhaske and against the petitioner, considering that Mhaske is the successful candidate in the elections”.

Vichare, in his plea, claimed while Mhaske in his nomination application stated he was not convicted by any court, the same was not the case. The petitioner alleged Mhaske was convicted in a case of rioting and his appeal against the conviction was dismissed by Thane sessions court. Vichare sought a declaration that Mhaske’s election be declared “null and void”.

Senior advocates Darius Khambata and Pankaj Sawant, representing Vichare, claimed Mhaske had written “not applicable” in connection with the cases in which the candidate is convicted and the same amounted to “suppression of fact”. “The disclosure in nomination is made so that voters know who they are voting for. This is a mandatory disclosure. But he has written ‘Not Applicable’ in all and so there is suppression of fact,” Vichare submitted.

However, senior advocate Vikram Nankani for Mhaske denied the claims in Vichare’s plea and sought its dismissal through an application, which the court allowed. The court also allowed applications by one Gurudev Narsingh Suryavanshi, another contestant for Thane Lok Sabha seat, argued through advocates Subhash Jha and Hare Krishna Mishra, seeking dismissal of Vichare’s election petition.