Thaindian News

New Delhi, Jan 18 (IANS) The Majnu Ka Tila ward of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has fallen vacant with the Delhi High Court Tuesday upholding its earlier judgment setting aside the election of the councillor from the area.The court held the 2007 election result in the ward as null and void.

The bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Manmohan upheld the earlier judgment delivered by Justice S. Muralidhar.

The bench dismissed appeals filed by Vikas, a Congress candidate, and Satish Kumar, a BJP candidate, challenging the single judge’s decision for fresh election in the ward.

Upholding the single judge’s order and setting aside the lower court’s findings, the bench said: “… it is very difficult, in the absence of any kind of pleading or evidence, to arrive at the conclusion that the election petitioner should have been declared elected.”

Justice Muralidhar April 13 last year passed the judgment on the petition filed by Vikas challenging a lower court’s decision against him.

In April last year, while directing the Election Commission to hold fresh election in the ward, the single judge had directed Satish Kumar to forthwith cease to function as councillor in the ward.

He had said quashing of the election of a winning candidate (Vikas) in a poll would not automatically result in declaring the person (Satish) who got the second highest number of votes as elected.

The single judge’s verdict had come on an appeal filed by Vikas whose election as councillor was quashed by an additional district judge in 2008 and in his place Satish Kumar was declared as the winner.