Election set aside as a result of ADR’s Supreme Court judgement of March 13, 2003

From The Times of India

BJP councillor loses seat over asset declaration
3 Dec 2008, 2254 hrs IST, Smriti Singh, TNN

NEW DELHI: A BJP councillor, who had won the MCD elections last year from Daryaganj ward number 153, has incurred the wrath of the court, which declared his election "null and void'' for not disclosing his assets totally.

Stating that it's the fundamental right of people to know the full details about the candidate, additional district judge cancelled the election of BJP candidate Chaudhary Sunder Kumar and directed the State Election Commission to take steps to initiate criminal proceedings against him.

BJP's loss turned out to be Congress' gain as the court ordered that Congress candidate Ramesh Dutta, who had secured the second highest number of votes, be declared as winner. Dutta had filed the election petition challenging Sunder's election.

In the petition filed by Dutta, BJP candidate Sunder was accused of concealing information related to his assets in his nomination affidavit. Dutta claimed that the BJP candidate was running a kerosene oil depot (KOD) at Sarai Kale Khan, which was not declared by him in the affidavit. The petition also claimed that Sunder's brother, who is an additional sub-inspector of the area, was canvassing in the election.

In his defence, Sunder blamed the officers of the food and civil supply department for not cancelling his KOD licence even though he had applied for discontinuation.

This, however, did not help prove his innocence. The court stated that such a department for cancellation was created much after his election and "in no way he could have applied for the cancellation of his licence.'' The court, however, rejected the petitioner's contention that his brother was also involved.

The court, in its order, relied upon a Supreme Court verdict making it mandatory for candidates to declare their assets while filing nomination papers. "As per the SC directive, any disinformation, misinformation or non-information all equally creates an uninformed citizenry which would finally make democracy a monocracy and farce.... admittedly, public scrutiny is one of the best-known means of getting clean and less polluted persons to govern the country and therefore the right of a citizen to information with regard to the antecedents of a candidate in respect of criminal cases and their assets,'' the court said.

The State Election Commission had also issued an order in this regard on July 22, 2003, it noted. The elections for the 272-member municipal body was held on April 5, 2007.

When contacted, Chaudhary Sunder Kumar was unavailable to comment on the cancellation of his election.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Delhi/BJP_councillor_loses_seat_over_asset_declaration/articleshow/3789530.cms