BHOPAL: The November 2016 by-election win of former MP Minister and BJP candidate Gyan Singh from Shahdol (ST) Lok Sabha seat was declared null and void by Madhya Pradesh High Court on Friday.
The single judge bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court in Jabalpur, headed by Justice Atul Sreedharan, while hearing the petition of independent candidate Mahavir Prasad Manjhi (whose nomination papers were rejected during the November 2016 by-election process by Returning Officer following objection by Gyan Singh), passed the order declaring the entire by-election of November 19, 2016 as null and void.
As a consequence, Gyan Singh’s bypoll victory from the seat stood automatically nullified in the wake of the HC order, the petitioner Mahavir Prasad Manjhi’s counsel Ankit Saxena told this newspaper on Friday.
The by-election to Shahdol Lok Sabha seat was necessitated after the death of sitting BJP MP Dalpat Singh Paraste.
Mahavir Prasad Manjhi filed nomination as an independent nominee from the seat reserved for Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates. But Gyan Singh objected to Mahavir’s nomination, submitting that he belonged to the Scheduled Caste category.
Manjhi moved the high court challenging the rejection/cancellation of his nomination papers. The court eventually upheld the submissions made by the Independent candidate saying the rejection of his papers was flawed.