Punjab and Haryana HC slaps Rs 25K cost on Congress leader who challenged Navjot Singh Sidhu’s LS election in 2009

Navjot Singh Sidhu (File Photo)

The Punjab and Haryana High Court Friday imposed a cost of Rs 25,000 on Amritsar Congress leader Om Parkash Soni who had challenged Navjot Singh Sidhu’s election to Lok Sabha from Amritsar in 2009 but failed to provide a list of witnesses to the court despite repeated opportunities. Soni was a Congress candidate in 2009 Lok Sabha elections from Amritsar and was defeated by Sidhu, who then fought as BJP candidate.

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In his election petition, Soni alleged that Sidhu had spent more than the election expenditure limit of Rs 25 lakh and got 11 favourite officers transferred there, including the then deputy commissioner-cum-returning officer at Amritsar. In the recently held Punjab Assembly elections on February 4, Sidhu was Congress candidate from Amritsar East while Soni too contested on a Congress ticket from the adjoining Amritsar Central constituency.