Rajya Sabha election: High Court notice to Harsh Mahajan on Singhvi’s plea against result

Legal Correspondent

Shimla, April 20

The HP High Court today issued a notice to BJP Rajya Sabha member Harsh Mahajan on an election petition filed by Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi, challenging the election result. Mahajan had won the February 27 election through a draw of lots after he and Singhvi secured 34 votes each.

While issuing the notice, Justice Ajay Mohan Goel listed the matter for the service of the respondent on May 23.

Singhvi alleged in the petition that the method adopted by the poll officer was wrong. The officer declared the election result on the basis of a draw of lots by wrongly interpreting rules. That on 27 February, the election was held for one seat of the Rajya Sabha in Himachal in which six rebel Congress MLAs and three Independent MLAs voted against Congress candidate Abhishek Manu Singhvi. The election result was tied at 34-34 in the 68-member Assembly. After the tie, the names were drawn through a draw of lots and BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan was declared the winner. Now, Singhvi had challenged the process of the declaration of the election result through the lottery system in the Himachal HC.