A single bench of the High Court of Manipur on Thursday admitted the election petition filed by former Kshetrigao MLA Nahakpam Indrajit against present MLA Noorul Hassan, challenging the latter’s election as a member of the 12th Manipur Legislative Assembly.
The petitioner Nahakpam Indrajit stated that Noorul failed to disclose some of his bank account details in the relevant column of Para No 7A(ii) in his Form 26 affidavit on nomination.
The petition alleged that Noorul has concealed his vehicle in the relevant column of the movable assets. Such concealment also amounts to a defect of substantial character in the nomination paper and therefore, the nomination paper was accepted improperly.
Indrajit further claimed that Noorul failed to disclose the detailed information of his spouse’s profession or occupation at Para No. 9(b) of his Form 26 Affidavit dated February 7, 2022 as he simply filled it as ‘Government Servant’ instead of giving the details regarding his spouse’s service. However, the spouse of Noorul is serving as the additional deputy commissioner under the Government of Assam.
The former MLA charged that Noorul has deliberately failed to disclose the facts in his form 26 affidavit dated February 7, 2022 and due to non-disclosure of his liability, he has misled the voters in choosing their right candidate from 4-Kshetrigao assembly constituency and has materially affected the result of the election, it further stated.
It stated that the nomination paper filed by Noorul should have been rejected by the returning officer. However, the returning officer improperly accepted the nomination, thereby allowing him to contest the election. Hence, the election of Noorul to be the returned candidate is liable to be set aside, stated the petition.
“Because due to the illegal inclusion of Noorul as a candidate in the election, voters were unable to choose their rightful candidate,” Indrajit charged on the petition.
The petitioner prayed to set aside the result of the election in Form 20 of 4-Kshetrigao assembly constituency of 12th Manipur Legislative Assembly, 2022 in respect of Noorul Hassan.
The petitioner further prayed to declare him as the duly elected member/returned candidate in the 12th Manipur Legislative Assembly, 2022 from Kshetrigao assembly constituency under Section 101 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
