CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court has framed 12 issues for proceedings in an election petition challenging BJP MLA Laxman Bag’s election from Kantabanji Assembly constituency, including allegations of irregularities in his nomination papers and disclosures made in the mandatory Form-26 affidavit.
Bag had defeated former chief minister and BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik by 16,344 votes in 2024. Bag polled 90,876 votes (44.57 per cent) against Naveen’s 74,532 (36.56 per cent), while Congress’s Santosh Singh Saluja stood third with 26,839 votes (13.16 per cent).
Justice RK Pattanaik framed the issues that will determine whether Bag’s election was valid. The matter has been posted for recording of evidence on October 9.
Griraj Singh Majhi, a voter of Kantabanji, filed the election petition on July 18, 2024. The High Court admitted it on August 5, 2024.
The petitioner has sought Bag’s election be declared void, alleging improper acceptance of his nomination papers despite alleged non-compliance with provisions of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 and Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961.
The election case proceedings will centre on Form-26, the affidavit that a candidate is required to submit along with the nomination papers. It contains information for voters about the candidate, including pending criminal cases, assets and liabilities, educational qualifications and other prescribed disclosures.
The court will examine whether Bag furnished the required affidavit and whether the information disclosed in it was complete and correct.
The 12 issues framed by the court will include whether the election petition is maintainable, whether the petition should be dismissed for non-compliance with sections 81 and 83 of the Representation of the People Act, if Bag properly filed his nomination papers along with the required Form-26 affidavit, whether filing photocopies of Form-26 affidavits constituted a substantial defect warranting rejection of his nomination, if he made false or misleading declarations or suppressed information about criminal cases pending against him and whether he made incorrect or incomplete declarations regarding his and his spouse’s movable and immovable assets.
The issues framed also include whether the correctly disclosed details of the separate bank account opened for election expenditure, whether he made a false declaration regarding his educational qualification, whether the returning officer illegally or improperly accepted his nomination and, if so and whether it materially affected the election result.
It will also consider whether Bag’s election should be declared void for alleged non-compliance with section 33A of the RP Act, Rule 4A of the Conduct of Election Rules and Form-25, besides alleged false declarations in Form-26.