AURANGABAD, Aug 12: The Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court today set aside the election of Janata Dal MLA from Latur, Shivajirao Kavekar, on the grounds that he indulged in corrupt electoral practices during the 1995 Assembly election campaign.

In a keenly contested election, Kavekar had unseated Congress leader and former Revenue Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh by a margin of 28,000 votes.

Former Chief Minister Sharad Pawar, who considered Deshmukh a rival, was said to have put his might behind Kavekar to ensure the Congman's defeat.Deshmukh later filed a petition before the High Court challenging Kavekar's election and stated that he had indulged in character assassination and aroused communal hatred. Deshmukh also objected to Kavekar's repeated use of the word mamuli in his speeches.

Deshmukh alleged that Kavekar in a widespread campaign had spread that he (Deshmukh) was against mamuli people. The word mamuli in local parlance denotes Marwadi Muslims and Lingayats who constitute a large chunk of the electorate.

The former minister said in his petition that this propaganda had lost him the election, since the said communities had turned hostile towards him.

Deshmukh also alleged that the respondent had used a weekly tabloid Saptahik Lava Lavi to incite Muslims against him through a ``disinformation campaign''. The Janata Dal candidate had consistently said that the future security of the mamulis was uncertain under Congress rule, the petitioner stated.

Justice Mane, who heard the petition, said that although Kavekar had defended the use of the word mamuli in his speeches, saying he had intended to convey its literal meaning (which means common), the petitioner had provided enough evidence to prove his point. The judge also admitted the evidence of a video footage of one of Kavekar's speeches, shot by the election committee, as evidence.

The judge took a special note of Kavekar's statement during post election victory rallies at Latur, when he had said that the word mamuli had created a miracle all over the state.

Justice Mane held that there was enough evidence of violation of the Representation of Peoples' Act (RPA). Justice AD Mane, who heard the petition, has put a six-day stay on his judgement so as to allow the respondents to appeal in the Supreme Court.

The conditional stay on the judgement restrains him from casting his vote in the Legislative Assembly. Setting aside the election, Justice Mane also ordered Kavekar to pay Rs 10,000 to the petitioner towards litigation cost.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.