Delhi High Court Dismisses Plea Challenging Manish Sisodia’s 2020 Assembly Election
The court ruled the election petition cannot be reheard in the High Court after dismissal, saying the petitioner may approach the Supreme Court for relief.
Published : February 26, 2026 at 2:39 PM IST
By Sanjay Kumar
New Delhi: A Division Bench of the Delhi High Court has dismissed a plea, challenging a single bench order that had rejected a petition contesting Manish Sisodia’s election from the Patparganj Assembly seat in the 2020 Delhi Assembly elections.
The Bench, headed by Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya, observed that once an election petition is dismissed by the High Court, it can be challenged before the Supreme Court. It is no longer maintainable before the High Court.
It may be noted that on January 17, a single judge bench of the High Court had dismissed the original petition, filed by Pratap Chandra, who contested and lost the 2020 Assembly election from the Patparganj seat, securing 95 votes. Justice Jasmeet Singh had held that the petition did not disclose sufficient material facts to make it fit for trial.
The plea alleged that Manish Sisodia had indulged in corrupt practices under Section 126 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, during the election. It further claimed that Sisodia did not disclose his criminal antecedents in his nomination affidavit.
The court observed that the allegations in the petition were general and failed to provide the essential facts required under Section 83 of the Representation of the People Act.
It noted that under Section 100(1)(d), a petition challenging an election must clearly state how the alleged corrupt practice materially affected the election result. However, the petition lacked such particulars.
The court also pointed out that the photographs annexed with the petition displayed the party’s election symbol and name but did not mention Sisodia. It further observed that there was no clarification whether the photographs were taken during the 48-hour prohibited period after the end of campaigning.
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