The Bombay High Court on Wednesday rejected a petition challenging Congress MP Varsha Gaikwad’s victory from the Mumbai North-Central seat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, reported Bar and Bench.

Justice Sharmila Deshmukh was hearing a petition by a rival candidate, Asif Siddiqui, who accused Gaikwad of electoral malpractices and procedural violations during her campaign.

Siddiqui claimed in his petition that the campaign handbills distributed by the Congress MP failed to meet the required printing norms. He also alleged that money was given to voters in exchange for their votes.

Advocate Tejas Deshmukh, representing Gaikwad, told the court that Siddiqui’s petition lacked evidence and failed to specify the allegedly false promises made by the Congress MP during her campaign, Bar and Bench reported.

Deshmukh also said that no videos were provided to back the bribery allegations against Gaikwad. The only person listed as an accused in the claims, Zeeshan Siddiqui, was a legislator affiliated with the Nationalist Congress Party led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and not the Congress, he added.

Advocate Moin Chowdhari, representing Asif Siddiqui, said that the videos supporting the petition had been withheld for the safety of the witnesses in the matter. However, it had been shared with the police and the Election Commission, he added.

Chowdhari also claimed that Gaikwad had provided a false residential address in her court filings.

Deshmukh, while rejecting the petition, said that it failed to disclose a valid cause of action and lacked the required material facts to sustain an election challenge, India Today reported. Mere allegations without concrete evidence did not warrant a trial, the court added.

“Considering that in the election petition, the pleadings have to be specific, precise, and unambiguous...where the election petition, even upon a holistic reading of the entire plaint, does not disclose a cause of action, the same is liable to be dismissed,” India Today quoted Deshmukh as saying.

Gaikwad won the Mumbai North-Central seat in the Lok Sabha elections in June, defeating Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Ujjwal Nikam by 16,514 votes.

Before this, she served four terms as an MLA representing the Dharavi Assembly constituency in Mumbai.