New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday, September 27 deferred hearing on a plea of Delhi chief minister Atishi and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal challenging the high court order refusing to quash a defamation case over their remarks on the alleged deletion of names of 30 lakh voters belonging to some communities from electoral rolls.
A bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and SVN Bhatti noted the submission of senior advocate Sonia Mathur, appearing for BJP leader Rajiv Babbar, that her caveat was not mentioned in the office report and she could not file a response as the petition was served late evening on Thursday.
The bench listed the matter for hearing on Monday, September 30.
Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Atishi and Kejriwal, said he could argue the matter on September 30.
Both Atishi and Kejriwal have challenged the September 2 order of the Delhi High Court by which it had refused to quash the proceedings against them and other AAP leaders over their remarks about the alleged deletion of names of voters, saying the imputations prima facie lowered the reputation of the BJP.
The high court had said the imputations were prima facie “defamatory” with an intention of vilifying the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and gaining undue political mileage.
It had dismissed the plea by Atishi, Kejriwal, and two others — Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) former Rajya Sabha member Sushil Kumar Gupta and party leader Manoj Kumar — challenging the defamation proceedings pending before the trial court.
In March 2019, a Delhi court summoned former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and three other AAP leaders in a defamation case filed by BJP leader Rajiv Babbar, who was then the vice-president of the BJP’s Delhi unit. Babbar accused the AAP leaders of damaging the BJP’s reputation by publicly claiming, through tweets and press conferences, that the party was responsible for the alleged deletion of voters’ names from certain communities in the electoral rolls.
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