Bombay high court dismisses election petition against Priya Dutt, other MPs

The Bombay high court today dismissed election petitions challenging the election of four Congress MPs from Mumbai.Justice SC Dharmadhikari also imposed cost of Rs 10,000 each on Shamsher Singh and three other petitioners for frivolous litigation. Cost will be paid to the respondent MPs: Priya Dutt, Eknath Gaikwad, Gurudas Kamat and Milind Deora.Petitioners, all voters from Mumbai, claimed that Congress manifesto for last Lok Sabha election sought to appease the Muslims by giving various promises.This amounted to violation of section 123 (3) of Representation of People Act, which prohibits seeking votes in the name of caste or religion, they argued.Among other things, manifesto promised that `Equal Opportunities Commission' shall be set up at the nationallevel which would benefit minorities.Advocate Ashutosh Kumbhkoni, representing the MPs, hadargued that manifesto did not "seek votes".Secondly, he contended, as per the Supreme Court, seeking votes in the name of religion means urging the voters to vote or not to vote for a candidate, on the ground that he/she belongs to a particular religion.In the present case none of the four elected MPs was a Muslim and votes were not sought with reference to their religion, was Kumbhkoni's contention.