Bombay High Court rejects election petition by Congress candidate Naseem Khan challenging election of Shiv Sena MLA Dilip Lande

The Bombay High Court on Thursday dismissed the election petition filed by Congress leader Mohammed Arif Naseem Khan challenging the election of Shiv Sena Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA), Dilip Lande from the Chandivali constituency [Khan Mohammed Arif Lallan v. Dilip Lande & Ors]. .Single-judge Justice Sandeep K Shinde observed the petition failed to plead 'material facts' resulting in an incomplete cause of action.The factual matrix in the case was that Dilip Bhausaheb Lande was elected MLA in 2019 from Chandivali. He defeated petitioner, who was the Indian National Congress candidate, by a thin margin of 409 votes.Khan then filed the present petition for declaring the election void on grounds of corrupt practices by Lande.Khan claimed that there were certain concocted and doctored videos of him which Lande deliberately circulated on WhatsApp. These portrayed Khan as an anti-national person. He further claimed that members of the Shiv Sena, including its chief, Uddhav Thackeray, the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, addressed audiences within the prohibited period of 48 hours which was in contravention to the Model Code of Conduct by the Election Commission.Khan's plea challenged the election on the ground that the only beneficiary from circulating the doctored video was Lande, as it amounted to Khan's defamation by painting him as an 'anti-national'. .In response to the petition, Lande filed an application seeking dismissal of the plea on the ground that the plea did not disclose the cause of action for want of material facts.The Court underscored that the position in law is well settled that an election petition can be summarily dismissed if the mandatory requirements of Section 83 of the Representation of the People Act to incorporate material facts are not complied with. From the pleadings in Khan's plea regarding circulation of the fake video, the Court noted that they were incomplete as Khan had neither pleaded nor disclosed the source of the fake video in the hands of Lande.The Court said it failed to understand the claim in the plea that violation of the conduct by Lande could land him over 400 votes, without showing any link between the alleged violation of the model code of conduct and the victory in election. "Mere ‘chance’ or ‘likelihood’ of voters being influenced by illegal campaigning would not constitute essential fact, to contend that illegal campaigning materially affected the election result of the returned candidate" the order stated. Justice Shinde thus dismissed the petition as Khan's petition failed to plead material facts resulting in an ‘incomplete cause of action’. .Advocates Girish Godbole, Aman Kacharia, Vedanshi Shah and Bipin Joshi appeared for Khan.Advocates Shardul Singh, Sandesh D Inamdar-Shinde and BA Lawate appeared for Lande.[Read Order]