SC declines to entertain Jan Suraaj's plea challenging 2025 Bihar Assembly elections

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain a petition filed by the Jan Suraaj Party, founded by former political strategist Prashant Kishor, seeking annulment of 2025 Bihar Assembly elections on the ground of violation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) ahead of polls.

The party had alleged the debt-ridden state, in violation of the MCC, gave away Rs 15,600 crore under the Mukhyamantri Mahila Rojgar Yojana just ahead of polls, which denied a level-playing field to other political parties.

Pulling up the party for trying to use the judicial forum to gain popularity and secure relief after having lost the polls, a bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi asked it to approach the Patna High Court as the issue pertained to only one state.

"How many votes did you get? Once people reject you, you use the judicial forum to get relief! Somebody should have challenged the scheme itself then. That is not the prayer before us. You just want an omnibus direction for declaration of election of the entire state as null and void," the CJI said.

The bench said the plea was nothing but a composite election petition for the entire state.

"Since it deals with only one State, please go to that High Court. In some cases, there is a serious issue of freebies which we will seriously examine," the bench said.

Senior advocate CU Singh, appearing for the party, said that the scheme under which the payment was made to voters, was announced just before the polls and the payments were made when the MCC was in force.

"But when a State has a grave fiscal deficit and it is a dole in the sense that 10,000 will be paid immediately and over 35 lakh people enrolled in this scheme just after the MCC was announced," the senior lawyer said.

"Direct transfer schemes are different. This is about women self help groups," the bench said.

The Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) had moved the Supreme Court seeking fresh elections in Bihar after the BJP-led NDA retained power in the 243-member Assembly by winning 202 seats, while the INDIA bloc secured 35 seats.

The JSP failed to win any seat, with most of its candidates forfeiting their deposits.

The petition accused the state government of violating the MCC by transferring Rs 10,000 to women beneficiaries under the Mukhyamantri Mahila Rojgar Yojana after the poll schedule was announced and sought action under Article 324 of the Constitution and Section 123 of the Representation of the People Act.

The Mukhyamantri Mahila Rojgar Yojana provides an initial financial grant of Rs 10,000 to women to promote self-employment and small businesses in the state.