NEW DELHI: BJP leader Sanjay Tandon has filed a petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court challenging the election of Chandigarh MP Manish Tewari.
Tandon, who contested as the BJP candidate in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, was defeated by Congress’s Manish Tewari by a narrow margin of 2,504 votes. The Congress had allied with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in this election.
In his petition, filed under the Representation of the People (RP) Act, 1951, through counsels Chetan Mittal, Ashu M Punchhi, and Satyam Tandon, Tandon has sought to annul Tewari’s election. The petition alleges that Tewari and his party workers engaged in corrupt practices by making various promises to voters.
These promises included filling out “guarantee cards” and posting videos that suggested voters would receive Rs 8,500 per month, Rs 1 lakh salary for the first job of every educated youth, loan waivers, and a legal guarantee of Minimum Support Price (MSP) based on the Swaminathan formula if they voted for Tewari.
The petition argues that these actions were intended to deceive voters into believing they would receive financial benefits in exchange for their votes, constituting corrupt practices under Section 123 of the RP Act. As such, Tandon contends that Tewari’s election should be declared void under Sections 100 and 101 of the RP Act.
The court has scheduled a hearing on the matter for September 9.