In a setback to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, the Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that the BJP leader could be prosecuted for allegedly failing to furnish details of two pending criminal cases against him in his election affidavit in 2014. The Supreme Court set aside a Bombay High Court order that ruled against prosecuting Fadnavis.
The two cases of alleged cheating and forgery were filed against Fadnavis in 1996 and 1998 but charges were not framed.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi had pronounced its verdict on a plea by one Satish Ukey, who had alleged non-disclosure of these two pending criminal cases was in violation of Section 125A of the Representation of People Act and constituted an offence in itself. Ukey had moved the Supreme Court after the Bombay High Court had rejected his plea on the issue.
Section 125A of the Representation of People Act lists the penalty for "filing false affidavit" and says that if a candidate or his proposer fails to furnish or gives false or conceals any information in his nomination paper on issues like pending criminal cases then the person would may be awarded six months jail term or fine or both.