Kendrapara: The court of District and Session Judge, Kendrapara has set aside the election of a woman sarpanch of Dhumat Gram Panchayat (GP) for violating two-child norms while filing nomination.
Reports said Manjulata Sethy was elected as sarpanch of Dhumat GP February 18, 2022 by defeating her rival candidate Annapurna Mallick. During the filing of the nomination, Annapurna had approached the Election Officer of Kendrapara block against Manjulata with a prayer to reject Manjulata’s nomination papers as she was the mother of four children but in vain.
After Manjulata was elected as sarpanch, Annapurna filed a case in the court of Civil Judge (Junior Division) alleging that as per Section-11 of Odisha Gram Panchayat Act, a person having more than two children is not entitled to contest in the rural polls. But the court dismissed the case as Annapurna could not prove her allegation. Annapurna then filed an appeal in the District and Sessions Judge Court which set aside the election of the sarpanch after examining the school admission registers and birth certificates of the children of Manjulata. The court also directed the administration to issue fresh election notification for the post of sarpanch
