Relief for Shankersinh Vaghela in the election petition in SC

After the debacle in the municipal and taluka panchayat polls, the Gujarat Congress registered a victory of sorts when the SC rejected BJP MLA Prabhatsinh Chauhan’s application.

The application had sought that the election petition filed by Congress leader Shankersinh Vaghela be quashed.

Now, Vaghela's petition will be heard in the state high court.

The HC had earlier heard a counter petition by Chauhan appealing to quash Vaghela's petition. The HC, however, had rejected Chauhan's counter petition after which Chauhan approached the Supreme Court.

"The SC too rejected his application, and now Vaghela’s election petition will be heard in the high court," a source said. After losing the election, Vaghela had filed an election petition mentioning that Chauhan followed false practices to win the 2009 assembly elections and should be declared as the candidate who lost the elections.

Chauhan, eventually filed a counter petition in the HC which was rejected. In the counter petition, Chauhan had mentioned that there are many technical errors in the election petition submitted by Vaghela.

The HC will now hear Vaghela’s election petition.