The Supreme Court has admitted a statutory appeal filed by MLA Mukesh Malhotra challenging the judgment of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, which had found him guilty of corrupt practices in an election petition.
A bench comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and KV Vishwanathan granted a conditional stay on the operation of the High Court’s judgment.
Under the interim arrangement, the Court has permitted the appellant to continue participating in proceedings of the Legislative Assembly, thereby allowing him to retain his functional presence as an elected representative. However, the Court imposed significant restrictions:
1. He shall not be entitled to vote on any motion or matter in the Assembly;
2. He shall not receive any salary, allowance, or monetary benefits admissible to an MLA.
Additionally, the Supreme Court stayed the operation of certain findings recorded by the High Court, particularly observations contained in paragraph 59 of the impugned judgment, pending final adjudication.
The Court has directed that records be requisitioned from the High Court and has listed the matter for final hearing on 23 July 2026.
Appearances:
For Appellant(s) : Mr. Vivek Tankha, Sr. Adv.; Mr. Varun Tankha, Adv.; Mr. Sumeer Sodhi, AOR; Mr. Inder Dev Singh, Adv.; Mr. Vipul Tiwari, Adv.; Mr. Chaitanya Sharma, Adv.
For Respondent(s): Ms. Meenakshi Arora, Sr. Adv.; Ms. Vidhi Pankaj Thaker, AOR
Mr. Neeraj Kishan Kaul, Sr. Adv.; Mr. Nipun Saxena, Adv.; Ms. Mantika Haryani, AOR
Ms. Riddhi Jain, Adv.; Mr. Varun Tyagi, Adv.; Mr. Toshiv Goyal, Adv.; Mr. Sankalp Sharma, Adv.; Ms. Aadya Pandey, Adv.; Ms. Deepali Dabas, Adv.; Mr. Dev Nagar, Adv.; Mr. B.D. Kundan, Adv.; Mr. Kushagra Raghuvanshi, Adv.
