The Delhi High Court on Friday upheld the Election Commission’s order that issued notice to former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda regarding his disqualification for producing fudged election expenses.
“(The) Election Commission has correctly appreciated and understood the law laid down therein and therefore, we concur with what the Election Commission has expressed,” a division bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Sanjiv Khanna said.
Rejecting Koda’s petition against the poll panel, the bench said: “The writ petition, being devoid of merit, stands dismissed.”
The Election Commission had issued notice to Koda in October 2010, asking him as to why he should not be disqualified on the ground that he had shown much lower election expenses than he had actually incurred.
The former chief minister had in his application to the high court stated that the Election Commission has no power to hold an inquiry and verify the correctness or the falsity of the return of election expenses already filed by him.
After being elected an MP from the tribal-dominated constituency of West Singhbhum in 2009, Koda had submitted accounts of his election expenses of over Rs 18 lakh to the district election office, which reported it to the Election Commission.
After 15 months, on Oct 10, 2010, the Election Commission issued a show cause notice, claiming that Koda failed to give his election expenses in the required format, without the necessary documents.
