On the day Uddhav Thackeray took over as the new Maharashtra Chief Minister, former CM Devendra Fadnavis received a summon from a Nagpur court in connection with a case where he is accused of concealing information about two criminal matters against him in his election affidavit. The summons was delivered at Fadnavis’ house in Nagpur, agencies reported.
Voted to the state assembly from Nagpur, Fadnavis served a full five year term as chief minister but lasted in office only three days after he was sworn in last Saturday. A city-based lawyer Satish Ukey had filed an application in the court seeking that criminal proceedings be initiated against Fadnavis. The lower court had dismissed the plea and the Bombay High Court too upheld it.
The Bombay High Court had upheld the lower court’s earlier order dismissing Uke’s plea. But the Supreme Court, on October 1, directed the magistrate’s court to go ahead with the application filed by Uke. While the CM had insisted that he had hidden nothing, the ruling by a CJI-led bench means that Fadnavis will have to face trial in the 2014 election case. Fadnavis had insisted that he hadn’t concealed any information in his affidavit.
Ukey had sought the CM’s disqualification as a legislator for not disclosing details of two criminal cases pending against him alleging that the CM did not disclose this in his 2014 election affidavit. It is mandatory for a candidate to disclose details of pending criminal cases against him. According to the Representation of People Act (RPA), a person convicted of any offence and sentenced to imprisonment for not less than two years shall be disqualified from contesting elections for that period and a further six years after release.
—India Legal Bureau