The Supreme Court today asked the Gujarat High Court to decide afresh the plea of senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel challenging the maintainability of a petition filed by a BJP leader against his election to the Rajya Sabha.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud said Patel's plea against the petition of BJP leader Balwantsinh Rajput required "de novo" (fresh) adjudication. Patel had moved the top court against the high court order, saying that Rajput's petition was "devoid of merits" and failed to show any "cause of action".