State education minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama on Friday submitted to the Gujarat High Court that he wants to become a witness and depose before the court in connection with the election petition filed against his assembly poll victory from Dholka constituency in 2017. The petition against Chudasama has been filed by Congress leader Ashwin Rathod.
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While hearing the case, counsel for Chudasama submitted that he wants to modify the list of witnesses submitted by the minister for the trial as Chudasama wants to depose before the court as a witness. However, the submission was vehemently opposed by Rathod's counsel on the ground that the list of witnesses in the case have been already submitted by Chudasama in the past and the court should not allow him to modify it.
Notably, Chudasama had earlier submitted a list of five witnesses in the case, which did not include his name. Deposing as a witness would mean that the minister would have to clarify his stand related to the controversial election and will be also open to cross-examination by Rathod's counsels. The court has now directed Chudasama to file a formal application for revising the list of witnesses by Monday and scheduled the next hearing of the matter on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, during the previous hearing on August 21, the court had criticised the minister for his 'delay tactics' affecting the progress in the case. It had clarified that it will adopt a conservative approach while accommodating the requests made by the minister's counsels.