Patna High Court, in its recent judgment in Ganga Mishra v. ChhediPaswan, declared the election of the respondent as null and void. The court stated that an election candidate is supposed to disclose all his previous criminal convictions of 2 or more years.
The court referred to the ruling of Supreme Court in Union of India v. Association for Democratic Reforms, stating“the contesting candidate must disclose in relevant form on affidavit the criminal cases instituted against the contesting candidate prior to six months of filing of nomination as to whether the candidate is accused in any pending case, of any offence punishable with imprisonment with two years or more, and in which charge is framed or cognizance is taken by the Court of Law”.
The Respondent no. 1, ChhediPaswan had disclosed the pendency of his criminal case while filing his nomination paper to contest elections held in 2010 but it was not disclosed in the present election. For such non-compliance of the provisions of the Act, the order issued by the ECI under Article 324 of the Constitution and breach of Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution, the election of respondent no. 1 has been held as null and void as he suffered from constitutional disability.
