Bombay High Court refuses relief to candidates whose nomination were rejected

MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court has dismissed a bunch of petitions filed by several candidates challenging the decision of electoral officers in rejecting their nomination forms for the forthcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections.

A bench of Justices V M Kanade and P D Kode, which rejected the petitions yesterday, was of the opinion that the election process has already begun and hence, at this stage the relief cannot be given.

The petitioners had complained that the decision of the electoral officers was "illegal and high-handed" and therefore should be set aside.

Kuldeep Pednekar, who had filed nomination from Byculla Assembly seat, argued that he had no criminal record and he cannot be debarred from contesting the polls. He said he was given a notice to rectify errors in his nomination form, which he did. However, his form was rejected on technical grounds.

Other petitioners were Rajul Patel of Shiv Sena, who had filed his nomination from Versova Assembly constituency, and Changez Multani, who had filed nomination as an Independent from the same Assembly seat.