The Supreme Court has refused to hear the petition challenging the results of Bihar assembly elections. This petition was filed by Prashant Kishor’s party Jan Suraj Party. In the petition, there was opposition to the transfer of Rs 10,000 to women before the elections. During the hearing, the judges reprimanded the petitioner for trying to use the Supreme Court for political battle. Seeing the tough stance of the Supreme Court, the lawyer appearing for Jan Suraj withdrew the petition.
In the Bihar Assembly elections held in November last year, the ruling NDA alliance won again and the government was formed under the leadership of Nitish Kumar. Jan Suraj had filed the petition saying that it was wrong to add new beneficiaries under the Chief Minister Mahila Rozgar Yojana before the elections and make payments to them during the Model Code of Conduct. Apart from Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution, this is also a violation of the provisions of the Representation of the People Act.
The bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi raised questions on the propriety of the petition. Justice Bagchi said, ‘You are demanding cancellation of the entire election, not just one seat. Show us where this provision is given in Section 100 of the Representation of the People Act? Anyway, the election petition is filed in the High Court.
Senior advocate C U Singh, appearing for Jan Suraj, tried to convince the judges to agree to the hearing, saying, ‘Bihar is one of the most debt-ridden states in the country, with a debt of Rs 15,600 crore. There money was distributed for political gains. The level playing field for other parties was spoiled by giving money to lakhs of women before the elections.
After this, the Chief Justice took Jan Suraj to task and said, ‘How many votes have you got? After losing the election, you are now using the court to demand its cancellation. The Chief Justice further said, ‘The issue of freebies given by governments is an important topic. The Supreme Court is considering this, but we cannot hear it at the behest of any political party. If you had come to power, perhaps you too would have run similar schemes.
