Cuttack: The Orissa High Court Thursday clamped an interim stay on its earlier ruling annulling the election of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) corporator from ward number 18 Sukanti Subudhi.
A single bench of Justice Biswanath Rath, in its ruling July 28, had declared Subudhi’s election null and void on ground of mismatch in her name and directed the state government to conduct by-poll in the ward within two months.
Subudhi challenged the ruling and filed a petition in the HC. Hearing the petition, a divisional bench of Chief Justice Vineet Saran and Justice Bidyut Ranjan Sarangi put an interim stay on the order. The bench directed the plaintiff, Punam Parida, to present her stand and postponed the hearing to September 7.
In her writ petition Subudhi stated that Parida’s petition in the HC was too late. Besides, the intervention of a single judge bench in the earlier verdict given by Khurda district and sessions judge court is not acceptable. Hence, the ruling of the single judge bench should be cancelled, Subudhi contended.
Sources said Parida, who unsuccessfully contested the municipal election from ward number 18 in 2014 against Subudhi, had filed a petition in the HC. Parida had alleged that there was inconsistency in Subudhi’s name mentioned in the nomination and affidavit furnished before the electoral officer.
The petitioner stated that Subudhi’s name was Dhadi Jena while her father’s name was Panu Jena in her school certificate. Similarly, Subudhi mentioned her husband’s name as Gouranga Subudhi in her nomination paper.
Earlier, Parida had moved Khurda district and sessions judge court challenging the election. However, the sessions court had rejected Parida’s petition stating that why the objection was not raised during the election.
Subsequently, Parida challenged the sessions court’s ruling in the HC. The petitioner appealed the HC to annul Subudhi’s election as per the Orissa Municipal Corporation Act 2003 on ground of furnishing false information.
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