The Supreme Court on Thursday issued a notice to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Advocate Satish Ukey’s plea seeking annulment of his election for alleged non-disclosure of criminal cases against him in his nomination papers during the assembly elections in 2014.

The apex court bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph sought the Chief Minister’s response on an appeal filed against a Bombay High Court order.

The petition filed by Advocate Satish Ukey alleged that the Maharashtra CM had deliberately hidden two criminal cases that were pending against him in his 2014 election affidavit.

Advocate Ukey’s petition challenged Fadnavis’s elections under Section 100(1)(d)(i) and (iv) of the Representation of the People ACct 1951, mentioning two cases filed against Fadnavis on March 4, 1996, and July 9, 1998.

The Bombay High Court had earlier dismissed the plea by Satish Ukey. The Supreme Court was hearing an appeal of Ukey against the High Court’s order.

Earlier, the returning officer of 52-South-West constituency, from where Fadnavis won his election in 2014, told the HC that he didn’t verify the contents of the affidavit as he wasn’t granted those powers, a July 2018 report in Times of India says.