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. This was allowed by the High Court.

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.

Justice Chandran pronounced the judgment as: "Relying on the earlier Constitution Bench judgment, we have allowed the appeal."

Detailed judgment awaited.

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