Non-joinder of a necessary party in an election petition under ROPA is fatal, leading to mandatory dismissal despite the merits of the allegations.

JUDGMENT

1. The present election petition is filed under sections 80, 80A and 81 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 , 1Hereinafter referred to as “ROPA”. seeking to set aside and declare the election of the respondent i.e. Mr. Satish Upadhyay, from Malviya Nagar Constituency of the Legislative Assembly of AC-43 pertaining to election which was held on 05.02.2025 and the result of which was declared on 08.02.2025, as null and void.

FACTUAL MATRIX

2. The petitioner, a three-time Member of Legislative Assembly, 2Hereinafter referred to as “MLA”. from the Malviya Nagar Assembly Constituency (AC-43) and former Law Minister in the Delhi Government, contested the 2025 Legislative Assembly election as the official candidate of the Aam Aadmi Party3 for the fourth time. The respondent also contested from the same constituency as the official candidate of the Bharatiya Janata Party.4

3. The election process was notified under section 15 of the ROPA as under:-

 Date of issue of Gazette Notification: 10^th January, 2025.

 Last date for nominations: 17^thJanuary, 2025.

 Scrutiny: 18^thJanuary, 2025.

 Withdrawal: 20^thJanuary, 2025.

 Poll: 5^thFebruary, 2025.

 Counting and result: 8^thFebruary, 2025.

4. After the elections were held, the Returning Officer counted the votes, and the petitioner secured 37,433 votes, while the respondent secured 39,564 votes thereby winning by a margin of 2,131 votes.

5. The petitioner in the present petition, amongst other grounds, alleges that the election of the respondent is vitiated by corrupt practices within the meaning of section 123, 127A and 130 of the ROPA, and 3Hereinafter referred to as “AAP”. 4Hereinafter referred to as “BJP”. therefore liable to be declared null and void under section 100(1)(b) and (d) of the ROPA.

6. It is alleged that the respondent had deployed his agents to bring people to the polling booths in cars to vote for him. For booths 10,11 and 12, Mrs. Deepti Verma, witnessed firsthand one Sri T. C. Goyal using the car and driver of Sri Dinesh Goyal and Sri Ravi Dev Gupta to bring people to the polling booths and vote for the respondent which is a corrupt practice under section 123(5) of the ROPA.

7. It is further alleged by the petitioner that Sri Jitender Kumar Kochar’s the Indian National Congress, 5Hereinafter referred to as “Congress”. candidate, entire election campaign was directed exclusively against the petitioner and not against the respondent. The Congress candidate’s posters, speeches, and pamphlets did not contain a single word of criticism against the BJP or the respondent, but were entirely targeted to defame and diminish the reputation of the petitioner. Such actions were part of a deliberate and coordinated strategy by the respondent and his agents to create a false contest, intended to confuse and divide the secular vote and thereby secure an unfair electoral advantage.

8. Further, the petitioner alleges that the respondent with the Returning Officer manipulated the voters list to enhance his prospects in the election and the respondent also failed to disclose the election expenditure submitted to the Returning Officer/District Election Officer.

9. Hence, the present petition has been filed to declare the election of the respondent as null and void.

SUBMISSIONS On Behalf of the Respondent

10. Mr. Rajiv Nayar and Mr. Jayant Mehta, learned senior counsels for the respondent vociferously object to the maintainability of the petition and sta