Bombay High Court Issues Summons To BJP MP Narayan Rane On Plea Challenging His Election

Single-judge Justice Sarang Kotwal issued summons and made it returnable on September 12.

"Heard. This Election Petition is preferred with a prayer for declaring the result in respect of Sindhudurg constituency whereby, the Respondent no. 5 (Rane) was declared elected, to be void. The other prayer is for conducting fresh elections. Issue Summons to all respondents in consonance with the law. The same be made returnable on September 12," Justice Kotwal said in the order.

In the general elections, Rane was declared elected with 4,48,514 votes while Raut secured a total of 4,00,656 votes. In his plea through Advocate Asim Sarode, Raut has alleged that Rane and his campaigners, particularly his son Nitesh Rane, has breached the Model Code of Conduct (MCC).

The plea alleged that by giving a public speech in the Constituency after the enforcement of the MCC, Rane's son Nitesh breached the MCC and also the section 126 of the Representation of People's Act, which prohibits public speeches during the MCC period.

Sarode submitted that elections in the said Constituency took place on May 7, however, Rane, his son and also his party workers, continued their speeches, distributing 'gifts' to lure voters etc.

A particular speech, to which, Raut has taken exception was by Nitesh, who while addressing a group of Sarpanchas reportedly asked for "votes at any cost" and had threatened them of "stopping funds" if they failed to garner more votes for his father.

Sarode submitted, "It is the responsibility of not only the political parties or the candidate's but also of the Election authorities to ensure that the MCC is not breached at any cost. However, in this case, when we wrote a complaint letter to the authorities, we were given a response that no provision of the MCC or the RP Act, has been violated by the respondents."

Having heard the brief submissions, the bench issued summons to Rane and other respondents.

Appearance:

Advocate Asim Sarode appeared for the Petitioner.

Advocate Arun Panickar represented the Election Commission of India.

Case Title: Vinayak Raut vs Election Commission of India.