Ward 7 councillor Nav Nanda is no longer facing an audit of her election spending.
An order to review the North Oakville councillor’s 2022 election spending has been thrown out by an Ontario Superior Court judge, who has ruled that the complaint leading to the audit order came from a person who was not eligible to make it.
In the summer of 2023, Ward 6 resident Gobinder Randhawa complained to the town that Nanda violated election financing rules by spending money on a website and election-related events that she did not declare on her financial statement.
Following a hearing, Oakville’s election compliance audit committee decided her election spending should be reviewed.
It ordered an audit of her finances during the 2022 municipal election that saw her unseat Pavan Parmar in a tight race for Oakville’s Ward 7 town and regional council seat.
But Nanda argued that Randhawa’s complaint was invalid because he is a Ward 6 resident, so not eligible to bring a complaint about a Ward 7 councillor.
She appealed the audit order at a hearing held in October 2023.
Read more here: Ward 7 councillor asks court to overturn decision to audit her campaign finances
Justice Marvin Kurz has agreed with Nanda.
Under Ontario’s Municipal Act, compliance audits can only be sought by "an elector who is entitled to vote in an election."
Kurz ruled that "an elector" should be interpreted as being a resident of Ward 7, who can vote directly for a Ward 7 candidate.
The town’s election compliance audit committee – an independent body of external experts appointed by the town prior to the election, for the sole purpose of dealing with complaints about election violations – had sought a broader interpretation of the term "elector."
The committee’s lawyer had argued for interpreting the phrase to include all Oakville electors eligible to vote in the municipal election, regardless of the ward they reside in.
In an email to Oakville News, Nanda said she is "grateful for the court’s ruling" and looking forward to "moving past this matter to redouble my efforts in delivering for Ward 7 residents."
"I also believe that the decision is an important precedent that will prevent political actors from officious intermeddling and manipulating campaign finance laws to serve their own partisan interests at taxpayer expense," she wrote.
In information filed with the court, Nanda noted that Randhawa is the spouse of Jagandeep Randhawa, who worked with Parmar’s re-election campaign. Election financial statements also show Jagandeep Randhawa was also one of Parmar's largest campaign donors.