The Supreme Court Monday fixed August 6 for hearing the plea of senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel pertaining to his election to the Rajya Sabha in 2017 which has been challenged by rival BJP candidate Balwantsinh Rajput in the Gujarat High Court. Patel has challenged the order of the Gujarat High Court’s by which it had dismissed his plea questioning the maintainability of Rajput’s election petition. The apex court had declined to interfere with the October 26, 2018 order of the high court which had said that Rajput’s allegations required a trial. Patel has filed three appeals against the orders of the high court which were tagged together by the apex court on Monday for final disposal on August 6.
A Bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi also clarified that the ongoing trial would continue and the parties can go ahead with recording evidence. The apex court on January 3 had asked Patel to face trial on Rajput’s election petition challenging the Election Commission’s decision to invalidate the votes of the two rebel MLAs. Had these votes been counted, he would have defeated Patel, the BJP leader had contended.