Petition challenging nomination against Alpesh Thakor withdrawn
The petition pending against Alpesh Thakor in Gujarat High Court was withdrawn as the petitioner was unable to prove or justify his locus standi in the matter
- India News
- 3 min read
In a huge relief for Alpesh Thakor, the petition pending against him in Gujarat High Court has been withdrawn. The petitioner - a social activist named Suresh Singhal, was unable to prove or justify his locus standi in the matter. Due to this, the court had directed him to either convert the petition into public interest litigation (PIL) or withdraw the petition altogether. Following which on Thursday, the petition was officially withdrawn.
Petitioner failed to produce the document before the court
In the earlier hearings, the petitioner was asked to produce his identification card as a member of the Thakor Sena (the Thakore community group of which Alpesh is a prominent face). In two of the hearings, since Singhal failed to produce the document, the court had to give the direction stating that since the petitioner did not have a justified locus standi, the petition could not be valid. “I found out that my card was stolen and that is why I could not produce it in the court. But since I had no police complaint reporting the stealing as well, the court could also not do much. I respect the procedure,” Singhal said. Singhal had filed the petition in Gujarat High Court earlier in the month since he had questioned the nomination on the basis that the speaker decision was yet to come on Alpesh’s disqualification. “What would happen if the speaker said in November that he was indeed disqualified? There would have to be another bypoll and that would lead to more wastage of public funds. My petition makes sure that that aspect of elections is also considered,” Singhal had said.
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Lawyer alleges petitioner of consciously sabotaging the case
However, the lawyer fighting the case against Thakor, Dharmesh Gurjar has made allegations that the petitioner was consciously sabotaging the case. Gurjar had said earlier that there were some people who approached him and asked him to drop the case in exchange for a sizable sum of money. “He (Singhal) kept leading me on and told me that he did, in fact, have that id card that would have justified his petition. But then at the end moment, he told me that it was stolen. It felt that he was only sabotaging the case. I tried to back out of the case several times because he was being shifty,” Gurjar said after the petition was officially withdrawn.