New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday gave two more weeks to former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and ex-cabinet minister Somnath Bharti to respond to a plea seeking cancellation of their election as legislators for allegedly crossing the EC-set expenditure limit in 2013 assembly polls.
The court sought their responses by April 17 on two separate petitions filed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders Vijender Gupta and Arti Mehra alleging Kejriwal and Bharti each had crossed the statutory limit of Rs 14 lakh.
Gupta's petition against Kejriwal is being heard by the court of Justice Vipin Sanghi who granted additional time to the ex-CM on his counsel's request. Justice GS Sistani too granted additional time to Bharti to respond to Mehra's plea.
On whether Kejriwal's resignation would have any effect on the case, Gupta's counsel told Justice Sistani that since it is an election petition, "resignation of the CM will have no effect on the proceedings".
"If we succeed, they (Kejriwal and Bharti) can't contest elections for six years," Gupta's lawyer told the court. In their petitions, the BJP leaders have alleged the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders spent more than Rs 17 lakh each in the assembly elections held on December 4, 2013, and have sought orders declaring their election as null and void.
The Election Commission has set a limit of Rs 14 lakh for poll expenditure of every candidate during assembly elections, they have said in their petitions.
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