Cuttack: The Orissa High Court has rejected an election petition, challenging Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s victory in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections
A single-judge bench of Justice Sanjay Kumar Mishra dismissed the plea filed by Subash Mohapatra, who unsuccessfully fought the 2024 elections from Sambalpur constituency, pointing out the the petition only made vague, general allegations without explicitly linking them to any of the statutory definitions of corrupt practices as outlined in the Representation of the People Act 1983.
“In the present case, even though the election petition repeatedly alleges that the returned candidate committed ‘corrupt practices’, it fails to pinpoint the exact nature or type of such corrupt practice as required under Section 123 of the RP Act, 1951,” Justice Mishra observed.
The court described the failure of the election petitioner to specifically plead the precise nature of the alleged corrupt practice as a fatal defect.
Justice Mishra further noted that Mohapatra had not submitted any supporting documents with the petition. “The election petitioner has also failed to file the necessary documents in the form of a list to back up the claims of corrupt practices,” the court said while declining to entertain the challenge and dismissing it outright.
