Fadnavis to face trial in poll affidavit case
NEWDELHI:A three-judge Supreme Court (SC) bench led by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi held on Tuesday that Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis would have to face a criminal trial for failing to disclose information of two criminal cases against him in the 2014 assembly election affidavit.
The top court set aside a May 2018 verdict by the Bombay high court, and a May 2016 decision by a Maharashtra sessions court, that had given the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader a clean chit in the matter.
“The judgments are legally not tenable and the same deserves to be set aside which we hereby do,” said the bench, also comprising justices Deepak Gupta and Aniruddha Bose.
The complaint against Fadnavis will be considered afresh by a trial court from the stage where it was interdicted by the May 2016 order, the SC bench held.
Tuesday’s judgment is unlikely to impact Fadnavis’ election prospects in the upcoming Maharashtra assembly polls, scheduled for October 21. The CM is seeking a fifth consecutive term from the Nagpur South West seat and was named as the BJP candidate for the constituency on Tuesday. Under the law, a candidate can be barred from fighting elections only if he or she has been convicted.
The chief minister’s office said it would be “wrong” and “contemptuous” to term the SC order a “permission to prosecute” Fadnavis.
“The SC order is to remand back the case to the trial court and not for any investigation or any other action. The order does not speak about Fadnavis’s prosecution,” the statement read.
In 2014, Satish Ukey, an advocate in the Bombay high court, filed a complaint in Nagpur alleging that Fadnavis failed to disclose details of two criminal cases pending against him in his election affidavit and demanded he be prosecuted for violation of section 125A of the Representation of People’s Act (RPA).
Violation of this act is punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend up to six months, or with fine, or both.
The two cases against Fadnavis pertained to alleged cheating and forgery and were filed in 1996 and 1998, respectively, but charges were not framed in either case.
The Opposition demanded Fadnavis’ resignation, saying that the investigation will be influenced if he continued to be the chief minister.
“The top court has allowed his prosecution and investigation against him. The further probe will be influenced if he remained CM and continued to head the home department. Police too should take action against him following the SC order,” said Eknath Gaikwad, Mumbai Congress president.
Nawab Malik, Mumbai unit chief of the Nationalist Congress Party, said Fadnavis has lost the moral ground to remain in the post. “... The person heading the state has no right to be in the politics too. He should be banned from contesting the elections too.”