Petition lacks merit: Delhi HC dismisses plea challenging election of Nitish Kumar as JDU President
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as President of the Janata Dal (United) (JD(U)). The court found no substantial reason to interfere with the election results and deemed the petition to be without merit.
This decision upholds Nitish Kumar's position as the party president.
The bench of Justice Pushpender Kumar Kaurav in an order passed on August 29, noted that the reliefs sought by the petitioner, fall wholly outside the ambit of the inquiry contemplated under Section 29A of the RP Act. As elucidated in the preceding discussion, the principles established in the case of Sadiq Ali (supra) do not support the reliefs sought in this writ petition.
«In light of the foregoing discussion, the Court finds no compelling reason to interfere in the present writ petition or to grant the relief sought by the petitioner. The petition lacks merit and falls outside the jurisdictional scope of Article 226 of the Constitution of India. Consequently, the writ petition is hereby dismissed,» the court said.
The court noted that the dispute was initially raised by a faction of JD(U) under paragraph 15 of the Symbols Order. An interim order dated 17 November 2017 determined that the faction led by Nitish Kumar had demonstrated overwhelming majority support, both within the legislative wing and the National Council, as affirmed by the Supreme Court in the Sadiq Ali case. This interim order recognised Kumar's faction as the legitimate JD(U) faction and granted it the right to use the party's reserved symbol, the Arrow, as the
