On Thursday, the Supreme Court (SC) of India asked Congress leader Ahmed Patel to face trial in connection with his election to the Rajya Sabha in 2017 which has been challenged by Balvantsinh Rajput, his rival candidate from BJP. The bench of CJI Ranjan Gogoi and Justice S K Kaul declined the October 26, 2018 order of the Gujarat High Court which had said that Rajput’s allegations required a trial.
The apex court in its order said, “As contesting parties have appeared, no notice need be formally issued. List the matters for final disposal in the month of February 2019. In the meantime, the High Court shall proceed with the trial of the Election Petition”. The SC further said that Patel’s plea will be heard next month and both the parties need to file additional documents in the matter till then.
Earlier, Ahmed Patel was inducted into the Rajya Sabha from Gujarat. Patel got the required 44 votes in what turned out to be one of the most closely contested Rajya Sabha elections ever. But at the crucial time of voting, Shankersinh Vaghela, a former CM of Gujarat attempted to split the Congress Party and took away a few votes. He didn’t just vote for ‘friend’ Balvantsinh Rajput but made his announcement public, it had an effect on other Congress Legislators, 44 of whom were holed up in a resort in a “friendly” state – Karnataka.
In this petition, Balvantsinh Rajput claimed that the Election Commission at that time had invalidated the votes of rebel Congress MLAs Bholabhai Gohel and Raghavjee Patel, bringing down the number of votes needed for victory to 44 from 45. In the election petition before the high court, Rajput also alleged that Patel had taken Congress MLAs to a resort in Bengaluru before the election which amounted to “bribing the voters”.
The Supreme Court on September 26 last year, asked the Gujarat High Court to decide afresh a plea of Patel challenging the maintainability of a petition filed by Rajput; which was earlier dismissed by the Gujarat High Court in October.
Ahmed Patel is one of the most influential Congress leaders and is considered to be the man-Friday of Sonia Gandhi. A defeat in his home state could have dented his political career and also Congress’s morale in upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Ahmed Patel’s loss would have inadvertently resulted in more MPs and MLAs abandoning the sinking Congress’ ship. It would have been a killer blow right in heart of Sonia Gandhi’s inner power circle which not very long back set the agenda for the country. The battle was not for a single Rajya Sabha seat but for the safeguarding of Sonia Gandhi’s political control and influence over the Congress party. Overall, 2018 has not been a good year for Ahmed Patel. Allegations of corruptions have also surfaced in the Sandesara case and now his Rajya Sabha seat seems to be in danger.
The seasoned politician has been Indira Gandhi’s loyalist, Rajiv Gandhi’s buddy, Pranab Mukherjee’s partner-in-strategy and Sonia Gandhi’s most trusted aide. No Congress politician has ever sustained period of dominance like Ahmed Patel has. But even after winning the election, the era of Ahmed Patel in a largely Rahul-centric Congress seems to be over.