CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court has issued notice to BJD MLA Dhruba Charan Sahoo on a petition challenging his election from Rajnagar Assembly constituency in the recent polls.
The single judge bench of Justice Ananda Chandra Behera also issued notice to seven other candidates who had contested from the seat after he admitted the election petition filed by Lalit Behera of BJP, who lost to Sahoo by a margin of 1,817 votes. Sahoo had also won the Rajnagar seat for BJD in 2019.
Justice Behera issued the notices to the respondents to file written statement and fixed September 3 for settlement of issues. The other respondents arrayed as parties in the case included Ashok Pratihari (Congress), Prasant Patra (Samajwadi Party) and Independent candidates Jiban Krushna Ray, Dibyaranjan Swain, Manoj Rout, Mahendra Bal and Snehalata Ray.
In his order, Justice Behera noted that the petition has sought for declaring the election of Sahoo as void on the ground of improper acceptance of his nomination papers by the returning officer in spite of noncompliance with the statutory provisions.
The petition sought quashing of Sahoo’s election on the ground of non-furnishing of original affidavits in each set of nomination papers, submission of incomplete and improper affidavits at the time of presentation of nomination papers, non-disclosure of correct position of all the criminal cases pending against him and making false declarations concerning the income tax returns among others.