Supreme Court to Hear Independent Candidate’s Plea Over Nomination Cancellation for LS Polls on April 19

The Supreme Court has agreed to review a petition lodged by Jawahar Kumar Jha, an independent candidate from the Banka parliamentary constituency in Bihar. Jha alleges that his nomination for the upcoming Lok Sabha Elections, 2024 was unjustly revoked by the Returning Officer. Scheduled for hearing on April 19, the plea is to be reviewed by a bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra.

Represented by advocate Alakh Alok Srivastava, the petition implores the apex court to intervene against the arbitrary rejection of nomination papers by Election Returning Officers across India. It calls for a mandate ensuring that every candidate is afforded at least a day to rectify any noted defects in their nomination papers. Additionally, the petition requests the annulment of a press release dated April 5, 2024, issued by the Public Relation Office in Banka, which led to Jha’s nomination being dismissed.

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Furthermore, the petitioner seeks Jha’s reinstatement as a valid candidate for the forthcoming parliamentary general elections scheduled for April 26, 2024, in the Banka 27 parliamentary constituency. The plea also urges the court to issue clear guidelines delineating “the defects of substantial character” as defined in Section 36(4) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.