Poll panel's proceedings against Ashok Chavan stayed

Sunday April 24, 2011 08:03:43 PM, IANS

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has stopped the Election Commission (EC) from proceeding on a plea seeking the disqualification of former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan as legislator for allegedly submitting wrong poll expenses during the 2009 state assembly elections.

A division bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Sanjiv Khanna ruled the poll panel's proceedings be stayed till its further orders on a petition by Chavan, who contended that the commission was not empowered to proceed against him.

The bench, in its order Wednesday but available only Sunday, also issued notices to the poll panel and others, including Bharatiya Janata Party vice president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, on whose complaint the Election Commission had started the proceedings against Chavan.

The BJP leaders, in their plea, alleged that the former Maharashtra chief minister had paid a huge sum to various newspapers and asked them to give him a favourable coverage during his 2009 assembly election.

"Chavan had shown a meagre expenditure of Rs.11,000 for poll campaign at that time," they alleged.

After Naqvi, BJP Maharashtra unit president Kirit Somaiya and Madhav Kinhalkar, an Independent candidate who had contested the Bhokar Assembly seat against Chavan, had also approached the Election Commission in December 2009, with same allegation.

They alleged Chavan had paid money to some Marathi and Hindi newspapers during the elections to write in his favour and did not submit a true account of his poll expenditure.

Chavan counsel, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, however submitted that all newspapers had denied the allegation in their reply to the poll panel.

Despite this, the commission decided to proceed against his client, Singvi contended and sought a stay on proceedings against Chavan.
 

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