PATNA: Patna High Court on Thursday issued notices to 42 MLAs from both the ruling and opposition parties in Bihar, seeking their responses to a batch of petitions accusing them of concealing information in their election affidavits during 2025 state assembly polls. The defeated candidates had filed petitions in the Patna High Court against the victorious MLAs.
During the preliminary hearing on the petitions, the High Court issued notices to all the MLAs concerned, directing them to file their replies within the stipulated time.
In the 243-member Bihar Assembly, 202 MLAs are from the ruling NDA while 35 are from the opposition Mahagathbandhan; five are from AIMIM and one from BSP.
Prominent leaders who have been notified include Assembly Speaker Prem Kumar, State Finance and Energy Minister and JD (U) leader Bijendra Yadav, BJP MLA Jivesh Mishra, JD (U) MLA Chetan Anand, RJD MLA Amendra Prasad, and other MLAs from the ruling and opposition parties.
In the next hearing, the court will decide the next course of action based on the responses and evidence from the parties involved.
Patna High Court senior advocate Shashi Bhushan Mangalam claimed that notices were served to MLAs concerned as they did not provide full and correct information in their election affidavits.
MLAs left blank a few paragraphs in the affidavits when it is incumbent up on candidates to provide information on all points in the prescribed format.
The petitioners contended that despite it, returning officers accepted these nomination papers as valid. On it, some defeated candidates and some voters filed petitions in the High Court, pleading those concealing facts in the elections affidavits was a serious matter as it compromised with the transparency of the election process.
Validity of the nomination papers will naturally be questioned if necessary, information was not provided in the election affidavits or some paragraphs left vacant.
Meanwhile, former deputy chief minister and BJP MLA Tarkishore Prasad said, “Only when the affidavit is filed, we can say what the matter is. Many types of cases keep coming to the High Court. I have faced this before, so I will present my point of view. At the tight time."
JD (U) MLA Vijay Singh denied any such irregularities and accused the opposition of doing all the work since they had no vision. “We did not hide any information, as claimed in petitions against us”, he added.
CPI (ML) MLA Virendra Prasad said that there were allegations of irregularities, ranging from EVM malfunctions to payment of Rs 10,000 to women and others.
“As far as notice is concerned, we will definitely respond. RJD's Prasad denied giving any false information or hiding any information.”
RJD MLA Amarendra Prasad said, “We were already opposing the SIR. In such a situation, why would they give false information?”