Mumbai, July 11 The Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court has issued a notice to Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Praful Patel on a petition challenging his election from Bhandara-Gondia Lok Sabha constituency.

The Bench has asked Patel to file his reply by September 18 in response to a petition filed by BJP's defeated candidate Shishupal Patle.

The petition filed under Section 80 of the Representation of Peoples' Act has contended that Patel had resorted to 'corrupt practices' and his election expenditure was far more than the Rs 25 lakh ceiling prescribed by poll panel.

Patle also questioned the credibility of the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). He claimed that the number of votes cast had been more than the number of voters listed, in as many as 73 booths.

Patle had won in 2004 election by a slender margin, while this time Patel settled the score with a win by over 2.5 lakh votes. (ANI)