Supreme Court dismisses plea challenging election of Rahul Gandhi from Wayanad in 2019 Lok Sabha polls

The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a petition challenging the election of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi from Kerala's Wayanad constituency in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls [Saritha Nair v Rahul Gandhi].

A Bench of Justices AS Bopanna and Dipankar Datta was hearing a plea by one Saritha Nair who had challenged an October 31, 2019 decision of the Kerala High Court by which her election petitions challenging the Lok Sabha polls in Wayanad and Ernakulam were dismissed.

In 2020, the Supreme Court had dismissed her Special Leave Petition for non-appearance of the counsel. Later, her counsel moved an application seeking restoration.

On Friday, the Bench restored the petition and dismissed the same on merits.

"Having heard learned counsel for the petitioner on merits, we see no reason to interfere with the impugned order. The special leave petition is, accordingly, dismissed," the Court observed.

Nair was represented by Advocates V Ramasubramanian, D Geetha, Ravinder Priya and Namrata.

Nair's nomination papers for contesting the Lok Sabha polls from Wayanad and Ernakulam were rejected by the returning officers in 2019 on account of her conviction and sentencing in two criminal cases related to the solar scam in Kerala.

Further, the Kerala High Court had refused to entertain the petitioner's plea challenging the polls after finding that her nomination papers were rejected as the conviction in the two criminal cases had not been suspended. The High Court had found that only the sentences in the cases were suspended by the appellate court.

Gandhi had won Kerala's Wayanad seat - the second seat he stood for in the 2019 polls - with a record margin of 431,770 votes.

He had defeated his nearest rival PP Suneer of the Communist Party of India, who secured 274,597 votes.

As per Section 8 (3) of the Representation of Peoples Act, the returning officer can reject the nomination of a candidate if he or she is punished in any criminal case for more than two years.

Nair was convicted in the solar scam case, with a magistrate court in Perumbavoor sentencing her to three years imprisonment and imposing a penalty of ₹10,000.

[Read Order]