New Delhi, Apr 17: The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain a plea of a Congress MLA from Madhya Pradesh challenging a high court order which dismissed his application seeking rejection of an election petition filed against him.
A bench of justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta allowed Abhay Kumar Mishra, MLA from Semariya assembly constituency, to withdraw his plea with liberty to avail remedy as available in law.
“Why are you (petitioner) not contesting the election petition there (before the Madhya Pradesh High Court)? Go and contest that,” the bench told senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who was appearing for Mishra.
After the bench showed its disinclination in entertaining the petition, Sibal sought permission to withdraw it. The bench allowed him to withdraw the plea.
In his plea filed through advocate Sumeer Sodhi, Mishra had challenged a March 20 order of the high court’s Jabalpur bench.
The high court had rejected his application seeking dismissal of the election petition filed against him by Krishna Pati Tripathi, who had contested as a candidate of the BJP in the elections held in November 2023.
Tripathi had filed the petition challenging the election on the grounds, including alleged non-disclosure of nine criminal cases registered against Mishra.
Mishra had contested the claims saying there were no pending case or conviction against him.
“There is no requirement under Section 33A of the Representation of People Act, 1951 to disclose those criminal cases in which the candidate has been acquitted or no charges were framed by the court of competent jurisdiction,” he said in his plea filed in the top court.
