Jabalpur High Court : Jabalpur High Court has given a big decision on a petition of former MLA Chanda Singh Gaur. A single bench of High Court Justice Nandita Dubey has terminated the membership of BJP MLA Rahul Singh Lodhi of Khargapur assembly constituency under Tikamgarh district. Along with this, instructions have been given to send a copy of the order to Madhya Pradesh State Election Commission and Election Commission of India. Along with the election being void, instructions have also been given to stop all the MLA related benefits being given to Lodhi.
this was the case
Election petitioner Chanda Surendra Singh Gaur, Congress candidate from Khargapur assembly seat, had filed a petition in the High Court in 2018, in which the nomination paper of the BJP MLA was accepted by the election officer in an illegal manner, besides information about partnership with a private contracting company contracted by the government. Was accused of concealment. Not only this, there was also an allegation of non-payment of Rs 10,000 fine imposed on Lodhi by the High Court to Chanda Singh Gaur in the past.
The Jabalpur High Court, after listening to all the arguments, in its order made strong remarks about the election officer going beyond the ambit of the rules and approving the nomination. This attitude was termed as a violation of Section-134 of the Representation of the People Act.
It is noteworthy that in the election petition on behalf of election petitioner former MLA Gaur, it was alleged that when she was elected MLA, Lodhi had filed an election petition against her, which was rejected with a fine of Rs 10,000. Lodhi was supposed to pay this amount to Gaur in compliance with the High Court’s direction, but he did not do so. Since this attitude comes under the ambit of violation of section 100 of the Representation of the People Act, the election should be cancelled. Apart from this, two nomination papers were also submitted, in which mutually contradictory information was given.