The re-election of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi to Parliament has been challenged in court by the candidate he defeated in voting marred by violence and fraud charges, news reports said today. Rajmohan Gandhi, grandson of independence leader Mohandas K. Gandhi, filed a petition Wednesday in Lucknow saying the former prime minister's campaign workers resorted to terror, bribery and abuse of power during November's balloting, according to reports in The Statesman and other newspapers. ``My petition alleges that the election was conducted in defiance of all rules and regulations and of every democratic norm,'' The Statesman quoted the losing candidate as saying when he left the court building in Lucknow. The two Gandhis are not related. The challenger asked the High Court of the state of Uttar Pradesh to declare the poll invalid and hold new elections. No date was given for further court action. After an investigation of the Nov. 24 voting in the two candidates' Amethi constitutency, the Election Commission threw out thousands of ballots and ordered a partial repoll in the poor rural district 60 miles southeast of Lucknow. The revote was ordered after Rajmohan Gandhi and his Janata Dal Party complained of widespread voter fraud and intimidation by supporters of Rajiv Gandhi and his Congress Party. In the most dramatic confrontation, a local Janata Dal leader was seriously wounded when he was shot in the stomach during a dispute with Congress Party workers on election day. In the final vote count, Rajiv Gandhi won 270,471 votes to Rajmohan Gandhi's 69,099. Nationwide, the elections were the most violent in India's 42 years of independence. At least 140 people died across the country during the voting. The Congress Party lost control of the goverment, and V. P. Singh of the National Front alliance came to power as prime minister. Rajiv Gandhi was relegated to the role of opposition leader in Parliament.
