By IANS,
New Delhi : The Supreme Court Thursday refused to grant any relief to a Telugu Desham Party leader whose nomination papers for election to an Andhra Pradesh assembly seat were rejected as defective.
A bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan refused to grant any relief to K. Babu Rao of the TDP, saying it cannot extend the date for filing nominations.
Appearing for Rao, former attorney general Soli J. Sorabjee urged the bench, which also included Justice P. Sathasivam and Justice J.M. Panchal, to extend the date for filing nomination for the assembly poll, being held along with the Lok Sabha polls in the state.
The polls are being held in the state in two phases, April 16 and April 23.
Sorabjee told the bench that his client’s nomination papers were rejected because “in hurry, he had forgotten to sign some of the affidavits” annexed with them.
Terming the mistake as “trivial in nature”, Sorabjee sought it to be condoned. The bench, however, did not grant any relief.
Earlier, the Andhra Pradesh High Court had rejected Rao’s appeal against the returning officer’s order that disallowed his nomination papers.
The high court said the validity of the returning officer’s order could only be challenged through an election petition, to be filed only after the election as the courts have very limited power to interfere with the election process once it is set in motion.
The apex court too, while refusing to grant any relief to Rao, endorsed this legal position.