Gandhinagar, April 20: The Gujarat High Court on Friday rejected Rajya Sabha (RS) Congress member Ahmed Patel's plea against the admission of BJP's Balwantsinh Rajput's petition challenging the Election Commission (EC)'s decision that resulted in Ahmed Patel's victory in the RS polls last year.
Justice Bela Trivedi dismissed the application by Patel who was represented by senior Congress leader and lawyer Kapil Sibal in the court.
Balwantsinh Rajput, a former Congress MLA, defected from the party to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) just ahead of the August 8 Rajya Sabha elections for three seats in the state and was fielded as a BJP nominee for one of the seats.
Rajput lost the election to Patel after the EC passed an order invalidating the votes of former Congress MLAs Raghavjee Patel and Bholabhai Gohel over flouting of poll norms. Going against the party's decision, the two Congress leaders had voted for Rajput instead of Patel. The votes were invalidated by the EC, thus paving the way for Patel's victory.
After the elections, Rajput had filed a petition in August 2017 questioning the Commission's invalidation of two votes by rebel Congress leaders following objections raised by the Congress.
He also accused Patel of indulging in corrupt practices by taking 44 Congress MLAs to a resort in Bengaluru and keeping them in captivity and spending lavishly on them.
May 4 has been fixed as the date for initiating the case proceedings in the court.
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Oppn leaders expresses outrage over killing of 'OBC' man with brick in Meerut
Meerut (UP) (PTI): Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president Mayawati have condemned the killing of a backward class youth in the Sardhana area of Meerut.
Both leaders on Sunday urged the government to be vigilant and proactive to prevent such crimes.
In a post on X, Mayawati said that the January 5 killing of a youth belonging to the Kashyap community, categorised under the Other Backward Classes (OBC), deserved the strongest condemnation.
She stressed that anti-social and criminal elements must have fear of the law.
In his post, SP chief said, "We raise our voice on behalf of the entire PDA community against the heinous act committed by goons who burned a young man from the Kashyap community alive in Jwalagarh, in the Sardhana area."
Responding to the posts, the Meerut police said the it was not a recent case and that had registered a murder FIR and solved the crime within 24 hours of the incident.
The accused, they said, is a minor who was produced before the Juvenile Justice Board and sent to a child reform home.
According to the police, the incident took place on January 5 on the Akhepur-Rardhana Road.
The victim was identified as Rohit alias Sonu, 28, a resident of the Kila locality in Muzaffarnagar city.
An investigation revealed that the crime followed an argument over loud music being played in a tempo. The accused, a 16-year-old tempo driver, allegedly assaulted Rohit with a brick, killing him.
Circle Officer (Sardhana) Ashutosh Kumar said the accused first befriended Rohit, made him consume liquor while he himself drank an energy drink and later struck him on the head with a brick.
To conceal his identity, the accused dragged the body about 15 metres to a spot near a school wall and set it on fire using clothes, dry leaves, and oil.
The incident came to light when a school watchman noticed a fire late that night and informed the police. The body was identified the next day.
Family members said Rohit worked as a confectioner in Mumbai and had come to his village to look for a bride.
The police said the accused was identified through a barcode on a liquor pouch recovered from the spot and CCTV footage from a liquor shop.
