CUTTACK: In a significant judgement, the Orissa High Court on Tuesday declared the election of Jogesh Singh, Congress MLA from Sundargarh Assembly constituency, invalid on Tuesday.
The HC order came after it adjudicated two election disputes filed by Sahadev Xaxa and Ajay Patel both of whom had alleged that Singh, despite not being a scheduled tribe (ST), had managed to obtain an ST certificate and contested the election from Sundargarh which is reserved for ST candidates.
After hearing the petitioners’ counsels and recording of evidence of several witnesses, the single judge bench of
Justice BK Nayak held that Singh indeed had submitted fake caste certificate and disqualified his election.
Singh who had secured 66,138 votes defeated his nearest candidate Kusum Tete of ruling Biju Janata Dal with a margin of 12,584 votes. There were nine candidates in the fray for the Sundargarh constituency in the 2014 elections.