The Supreme Court has agreed to review a plea by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Somnath Bharti challenging the election of BJP MLA Satish Upadhyay from Delhi’s Malviya Nagar Assembly constituency. Bharti’s special leave petition, against the Delhi High Court’s dismissal of his election petition, was granted leave by a Bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta.
Bharti contested the High Court’s decision based on the non-joinder of a necessary party under the Representation of the People Act. In the 2025 Delhi Assembly elections, Upadhyay secured victory over Bharti by 2,131 votes, leading to Bharti seeking to void Upadhyay’s election citing corrupt practices under the Act.
Allegations included claims of deploying vehicles to transport voters, collusion with election officials to manipulate electoral rolls, inadequate disclosure of election expenditure, and backing a Congress candidate to gain an electoral advantage. However, the High Court dismissed the petition, emphasizing the necessity of impleading any candidate facing allegations of corrupt practices as a respondent.
Referring to specific sections of the Representation of the People Act, the High Court stressed the mandatory nature of impleading accused candidates in election petitions. The court ruled that the failure to include the Congress candidate as a respondent was fatal to the petition’s validity, leading to its dismissal.
