Of plaints & shifting loyalties

Saurabh Malik

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 14

When defeated Congress candidate Om Prakash Soni moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court in 2009 for setting aside Navjot Singh Sidhu’s election from Amritsar parliamentary constituency, there was no way he could have realised that cricketer-turned-politician would switch teams and be the party’s top order politician. Batting for the same party, he and Sidhu went on to become Cabinet ministers. But a decade, and almost two elections later, his election petition is still pending. 

Placing his petition on the judicial anvil, Soni had sought directions for recounting of votes, while alleging adoption of corrupt practices, including use of state machinery to promote prospects. While Sidhu is preparing his pitch for the parliamentary poll, his counsel is gearing up for Soni’s petition, EP number 3 of 2009, scheduled to come up for further hearing on February 22.

The delay in decisions may appear unusual, but is not uncommon in a High Court with 3,79,211 pending cases. Available information suggests nearly 18 petitions challenging the elections of both parliamentarians and legislators, including one filed nearly 17 years back, are waiting for the hammer of justice to fall.

The figure may not sound astronomical, considering the total pendency of cases. But the number of election petitions filed is far less than other cases. The filing, too, is spasmodic and after a gap sometimes running into a couple of years.

A perusal of the HC record shows that, perhaps, the oldest pending election petition was filed in 2002 by Harkirat Singh against the election of Capt Amarinder Singh from Patiala Assembly constituency. The case last came up for hearing on February 13 and is still pending adjudication.