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Synopsis

A Supreme Court bench of Justices UU Lalit and Ravindra Bhat on Monday dismissed a plea filed by Dr. Mandati Thirupati Reddy, a lawyer, seeking directions to the Election Commission of India to accept his nomination for the election of Vice President of India

Dr. Reddy had earlier moved the court challenging the rejection of his nomination for the Presidential election. Today, before the court, he argued that he is a suitable candidate by virtue of his qualifications. Dr. Reddy further submitted that he has a wide understanding of the Constitution and had scored 72 % in his LLM paper on Constitutional Law.

He argued that he is an Advocate and has three international honorary doctorates making him a suitable candidate to be elected as the Vice President of India.

Justice Lalit, speaking for the bench, told him that it is mandatory as per law to have the support of 20 MPs for his nomination to be complete. The judge, further advised him that a court cannot pass a  mandatory injunction against the MPs and other public servants to support his candidature.

Dr.Reddy, however, continued making submissions before the court.  Justice Lalit said, “You are certainly eligible. The only point is whether you can offer your candidature or not.”

Thus, the court, on hearing his submissions, dismissed the petition by observing that the nature of relief sought in the petition filed under Article 32 of the Constitution of India, could not be entertained. The court further observed that the petition is misconceived and should therefore be rejected.

Case title: Dr. Mandati Thirupati Reddy Vs Election Commission of India