It was argued that the election petition didn't indicate any notarization, the Form 25 affidavit alleging corrupt practice was not properly attested, and some pages were missing.
While the High Court rejected the issue regarding missing pages, it dismissed the election petition on improper attestation in Form 25.
Choudhury had contested the 2024 parliamentary election from the Karimganj Parliamentary Constituency.
We restore the Election Petition to the files of the High Court for consideration as required herein above."
7474/2025Appearances: Mr. Harin Pravinkant Raval, learned Senior Advocate, appeared for the Appellant, assisted by Mr. Adeel Ahmed, Advocate-on-Record, alongwith Ms. Urmi H Raval, Adv Mr. Siddharth H Raval Adv Ms. Shreya Bansal, Adv.
The Supreme Court today (August 24) restored an election petition filed by advocate and Indian National Congress member Hafiz Rashid Ahmed Choudhury, challenging the election of Bharatiya Janata Party's Kripanath Mallah, who won the Lok Sabha elections from the No. 7 Karimganj Parliamentary Constituency in Assam during the 2024 General Elections.
A bench comprising Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice K Vinod Chandran allowed the civil appeal, which has been preferred under Section 116A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, challenging the Gauhati High Court's judgment dated April 4, 2025, which rejected the election petition at the threshold.
By the said judgment, the High Court had dismissed the election petition filed by Choudhary challenging the election of Kripanath, alleging corrupt practices within the meaning of Section 123 of the RP Act. However, the returned candidate filed an application under Section 86, read with Sections 81 and 83 of the RoP Act, and Section 151 CPC, seeking the outright dismissal of the election petition at the threshold, without going into a full trial.
It was argued that the election petition didn't indicate any notarization, the Form 25 affidavit alleging corrupt practice was not properly attested, and some pages were missing. While the High Court rejected the issue regarding missing pages, it dismissed the election petition on improper attestation in Form 25.
Choudhury had contested the 2024 parliamentary election from the Karimganj Parliamentary Constituency. As recorded in the appeal papers, the appellant had secured 5,26,733 votes, while the returned candidate had secured 5,45,093 votes, the difference being 18,360 votes.
On the issue of attestation, the Court held that the expressions 'attested to be true copy' and 'certified to be true copy' convey the same meaning and therefore, there has been compliance with Section 81(3).
As to the affidavit lacking notary attestation details on the Form-25, the Court relied upon the Constitution Bench judgment in Murarka Radhey Shyam Ram Kumar, and held that a defect concerning the Form 25 doesn't necessary leads to peremptory dismissal of the election petition.
It held that the original Form-25 in the present case was affirmed before a Commissioner of Affidavits and requested the High Court to verify if due attestation of the affirmation on oath is available, and proceed with the matter on merits. If the said is not available, it shouldn't permit the allegation of corrupt practices to be urged and proceed on any other grounds.
Justice Chandran pronounced the judgment as: "We, hence, find absolutely no reason to sustain the order of the High Court and reverse the same. We restore the Election Petition to the files of the High Court for consideration as required herein above."
Case Details: HAFIZ RASHID AHMED CHOUDHURY v KRIPANATH MALLAH AND ORS.|C.A. No. 7474/2025
Appearances: Mr. Harin Pravinkant Raval, learned Senior Advocate, appeared for the Appellant, assisted by Mr. Adeel Ahmed, Advocate-on-Record, alongwith Ms. Urmi H Raval, Adv Mr. Siddharth H Raval Adv Ms. Shreya Bansal, Adv. Ms. Shrestha Narayan, Adv, And Qazi Mohammad Farhan
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