City court quashes BJP councillor’s election

Not disclosing all his assets while filing nomination papers has proved costly for a BJP councillor from Daryaganj.

Not disclosing all his assets while filing nomination papers has proved costly for a BJP councillor from Daryaganj. A city court quashed his election and recommended the Election Commission initiate criminal action against Sunder, BJP councillor from Ward no. 153.

Observing that concealing of the information “affected the right to information, a fundamental right of the voter” and went against a Supreme Court verdict that makes all candidates liable to disclose their assets, the court declared his election as null and ordered that Congress candidate Ramesh Dutta, who secured the second highest number of votes, and was also petitioner in the case, be declared the winner.

“As observed by the apex court, any misinformation or non-information, all equally create an uninformed citizen, which would finally make the democracy a mobocracy and farce. The principle is to ensure free and fair elections. Exposure to public scrutiny is one of the best known means of getting clean and less corrupted persons to govern the country and therefore, the right of a citizen to information with regard to the antecedents of the candidates,” Additional District Judge Kamini Lau said in the order.

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The court asked the Election Commission to initiate criminal proceedings against the BJP candidate under IPC Section 176 for omission to give notice or information to public servant that he was legally bound to do, and Section 181 for submitting false information on oath.

Dutta had challenged Sunder’s election, held on April 5 last year, claiming the BJP candidate was running a kerosene depot at Sarai Kale Khan, which was not declared by him in the affidavit and amounted to wilful concealment of material fact. Dutta, incidentally, has won the municipal body elections from the area for the last 37 years.