CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court has fixed March 19 for hearing of the poll petition seeking direction for a fresh election to Kantabanji Assembly constituency in Balangir district. The Court, however, has ordered for deletion of names of Election Commission of India (ECI), State Election Commission (SEC) and Returning Officer, Kantabanji from the array of parties in the petition.
Ajay Kumar Das, the defeated candidate of BJD, had filed the petition. While Das ended up third, Santosh Singh Saluja of Congress defeated his nearest rival Laxman Bag of BJP in the 2019 elections. In his petition, Das prayed for declaration of the election as null and void and conducting of fresh election for the seat alleging discrepancy in the total number of votes polled and that found in the EVM during counting.
After the Court issued notices to the parties, written statements were submitted by the ECI, SEC and Returning Officer along with application for deletion of their names from the array of parties as they were not necessary parties in the case. The Single Judge Bench of Justice Biswajit Mohanty allowed the application on Friday and ordered for deletion of their names from the array of parties.
