Supreme Court asks Navjot Singh Sidhu to face trial in poll-related case

New Delhi: In a huge setback to former BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu, the Supreme Court on Wednesday asked him to face trial for alleged electoral malpractices in the 2009 elections which he won from Amritsar.

A Bench of justices disposing of his appeal said the Punjab and Haryana High Court will decide the election petition on the allegations of excess spending by Sidhu on media advertisements and facilitating transfer of a gazetted officer in Punjab, who allegedly helped him in winning the election. The proceedings in the HC at the instance of the defeated Congress candidate Om Prakash Soni will only be an academic exercise.

The Bench, however, absolved Sidhu of the charges of excess spending for public meetings on the ground that Soni had not furnished materials to substantiate the charges, though he adequately backed the allegations of excess spending for advertisements.