Acting on the plea filed by BJP leader Balvantsinh Rajput in the ongoing trial of the election petition filed by him against Congress leader Ahmed Patel's Rajya Sabha poll victory, the Gujarat High Court, on Friday, issued fresh summon to manager of Eagleton Resort in Bengaluru. Notably, Patel had kept Congress MLAs at the resort just before the Rajya Sabha elections to avoid horse-trading by the ruling BJP.

Justice Bela Trivedi issued the fresh summon directing the manager to remain present before court on April 25. The fresh summons were issued after the City Civil Court, Bengaluru, informed the high court that the summons earlier issued by the high court could not be served as there was no company in the name of Eagleton Resort at the given address. Miffed by the same, the court had earlier imposed a fine of Rs 2,000 on Rajput for supplying the wrong address. The manager of the resort was supposed to depose before the high court on April 9.

Notably, the court is carrying out a thorough trial in the case and is presently examining the witnesses of both the sides. Majority of the witnesses of Rajput, mostly Congress turncoats who jumped to BJP, had submitted in their deposition that the state Congress leadership had threatened them to vote in favour of Ahmed Patel or face a ban of six years. They had also alleged that they were taken to the resort by Patel and were threatened to vote in favour of him or face an ouster from the Congress party.