Setback To Fadnavis Ahead Of Polls: SC Says Maha CM To Face Trial For Filing False Poll Affidavit

The court pronounced its verdict on the plea seeking annulment of the election of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to the state Assembly, over the alleged concealment of criminal cases against him in the election papers.

Image: PTI

New Delhi: In a setback to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis ahead of the assembly polls, the Supreme Court on Tuesday said that he will have to face a trial for allegedly suppressing pendency of two criminal cases in his poll affidavit, setting aside a Bombay High Court order that prevented the trial court from examining the complaint against him. The court pronounced its verdict on the plea seeking annulment of the election of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to the state Assembly, over the alleged concealment of criminal cases against him in the election papers. However, the Maharashtra Chief Minister's Office said: "Complainant went to SC and court remanded case back to trial court for fresh consideration. It will again be heard in trial court to ascertain if a case for prosecution is made out or not. It's wrong and contemptuous to say SC has allowed prosecution." This can prove to be severe blow to the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is projecting Fadnavis as its CM candidate, at the time of elections. A three-judge bench consisting of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Deepak Gupta and Justice Aniruddha Bose had, on July 23, reserved the order on the plea after hearing arguments from all the parties in the case. The plea alleged that Fadnavis had suppressed information about two pending criminal cases against him while filing nomination from Nagpur's South West Assembly constituency in 2009 and 2014. The Bombay High Court had earlier dismissed the plea of one Satish Ukey seeking annulment of Fadanavis's election to the Maharashtra assembly alleging non-disclosure of all pending criminal cases against him. Ukey had later approached the top court challenging the High Court's order. The Election Commission of India has announced single-phase voting for Maharashtra Assembly elections on October 21 and the counting of votes is scheduled on October 24. (with inputs from ANI)