Cuttack: The Orissa High Court Tuesday declared the election of Congress MLA Jogesh Kumar Singh from Sundargarh, which is reserved for Scheduled Tribe candidates, as null and void.
While adjudicating two petitions filed by defeated BJP MLA Sahadev Xaxa and an electorate Ajay Patel, Justice BK Nayak of the Orissa High Court set aside the election of the Congress MLA for submitting a false caste certificate. The petitioners had alleged that Singh had submitted a fake caste certificate while filing his nomination in the 2014 Assembly elections.
Singh submitted a certificate stating he belonged to the ‘Khandayat Bhuyan’ caste, which is not included in the list of Scheduled Tribes. Giving details about the case, High Court lawyer Gopal Agarwal said that Xaxa had filed an election petition against the Sundargarh MLA after the Assembly election in 2014. “The petitioner had pleaded before the court that Singh is not a Scheduled Tribe (ST) member and had submitted a false affidavit while filing its nomination, which the returning officer had accepted illegally.”
Meanwhile, when contacted by the media, the Sundergarh legislator said he has full faith in the judiciary and he would approach the Supreme Court in this regard.
PNN/Agencies
