Miffed with the conduct of BJP leader and Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation (GMC) mayor Pravin Patel, the Gujarat High Court's division bench of Acting Chief Justice AS Dave and Justice Biren Vaishnav on Thursday took him to task and warned him not to bring his "dirty politics" to the court. This was the second time that a court lambasted Patel for his conduct.

Notably, Patel had moved the court against the November 1 order passed by the single judge bench of Justice Sonia Gokani, whereby the court had ordered the authorities to carry out the election for the post of mayor and deputy mayor in GMC. The court in its order restricted the authorities from declaring the result of the election and submit the vote of Patel in a sealed cover to the court. The order was issued in a petition filed by GMC's Congress councillor Shailendrasinh Bihola seeking disqualification of Patel under anti-defection laws. Notably, Patel got elected on a Congress ticket but joined the BJP to become the mayor.

During the hearing on Thursday, Justice Dave said, "We do not want to hear your appeal. We are dismissing it". When the counsel for Patel insisted on hearing his plea, a visibly agitated Justice Dave said: "Don't bring your dirty politics to the court. It is because of you that the court (the single judge bench) was compelled to pass the November 1 order. Even after passing of the order, you have not conducted the matter. Therefore, we are not inclined to entertain your plea".

This apart, the court also criticised BJP's mayoral candidate for GMC Rita Patel, who had filed a 'leave to appeal' application with an intention to challenge the November 1 order of Justice Gokani, due to which the outcome of the election got stalled. The court rebuked Rita remarking that she has no locus standi in the case and she cannot be said to have been aggrieved by the order of the single judge.

"You are a mayor candidate. Even after the November 1 order, you never moved the court for vacation of interim relief and for joining as a party in the case. So, the permission to challenge the single judge order cannot be granted to you," the bench clarified.

Earlier, Justice AJ Desai had lambasted Patel for "overreaching the process of law" and recused himself from hearing the matter. Interestingly, the GMC polls ended up being a major slugfest between the two parties, with one of the Congress councillor Ankit Barot getting abducted on the day of the election, as well as the exchange of blows during the election proceedings. Congress is now seeking re-election in GMC.