The Bombay High Court on Thursday issued notices to Union minister Nitin Gadkari and the Election Commission of India on a batch of petitions challenging Gadkari’s election in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, PTI reported.

Justice AS Chandurkar of the Nagpur bench of the High Court took up three separate elections petitions filed by Congress leader Nana Patole, Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi leader Manohar Dabrase and Nafis Khan, alleging electoral malpractices in the poll process.

Patole and Dabrase had contested against Gadkari from Nagpur in the Lok Sabha elections held between April and May. Gadkari defeated Patole by 1.97 lakh votes.

Patole claimed that the state election commissioner had not followed the laid-down procedure for the election process. Dabrase alleged that defective electronic voting machines were used for polling.

Justice Chandurkar issued notices to Gadkari, the Election Commission of India and the collector, who was the returning officer for Nagpur, and directed them to file their responses. The court posted the matter for further hearing on August 22.