Chief Justice Carl Singh yesterday discharged President Bharrat Jagdeo's summons to have the elections petition, filed by a private citizen, dismissed on the basis that one of the lawyers was reportedly not properly authorised to act on the petitioner's behalf.

Chief Justice Singh, in a lengthy ruling, said that it was not mandatory that the authority, empowering the lawyer to act on behalf of the petitioner, be served on President Jagdeo, one of the respondents named in the petition.

President Jagdeo, through his lawyers Senior Counsel, Bernard De Santos and others, had sought to the stop the elections petition filed by Veronica Delph.

In an affidavit in support of his application, the President had claimed that the petitioner, in her affidavit in support of the petition, had expressly authorized attorney-at-law Roysdale Forde to be her attorney in the matter. However, Shawn Allicock signed the notice of security for costs, purportedly as attorney for the petitioner and this, the President said, rendered the proceedings null and void.

Delph's response was that she had authorized both Forde and Allicock to act on her behalf.

The other respondents in the petition are Chief Election Officer, Gocool Boodoo; former chairman of the Elections Commission, Major General (Rtd) Joseph Singh; Leader of the PNC/R Desmond Hoyte; Leader of Rise Organise And Rebuild (ROAR), Ravi Dev; Leader of GAP/WPA, Paul Hardy; and Leader of The United Force (TUF), Manzoor Nadir.

Justice Singh is expected to hear two other summons filed by lawyers for the respondents. One such summons was filed by Senior Counsel Ashton Chase on behalf of the first and second respondents seeking that the petitioner furnish to them the particulars of the petition.