Himachal Pradesh High Court summoned the Bollywood actress and Member of Parliament Kangana Ranaut who represents the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on July 24. The notice is in response to a petition by Laik Ram Negi, a resident of Kinnaur, challenging her election as a Lok Sabha member representing Mandi.
Kangana Ranaut’s victory is being challenged in Mandi, Himachal Pradesh HC demands her to reply to petition by 21 August
As per Live Law India, Justice Jyotsna Rewal Dua presided over the matter and directed Ranaut to respond to the petition by August 21. This suit comes after she won the recent elections with a margin of 74,755 votes against Vikramaditya Singh from the Congress party. She received 537,002 votes while Singh received 462267 votes.
This application has been made by Laik Ram Negi. Who used to work for forestry services claiming that his nomination papers were wrongfully rejected by the returning officer. Who is also Deputy Commissioner for Mandi. He states that this rejection was one of those factors which handicapped him from fully contesting this election.
Negi says it was unfair how he was disqualified from running for office. On May 14th, 2024, he submitted his papers and presented “no dues certificate” obtained from his previous employer-forest department. However, according to the RO (returning officer), there were other “no dues certificates” needed. Which included electricity supply company’s no due certificate. Water supply company’s no due certificate and lastly telecommunications provider’s no due certificate.
Until May fifteenth day when these documents were meant to be fully provided as per requirement but he claimed having done so. Nonetheless, even after submission of these certificates prior nominations’ expiry date. They were not accepted and finally his nomination got rejected according to what Returning Officer had done.
Negi argues that this rejection was unwarranted and had a direct bearing on the outcome of the election. He believes that if his nomination had been valid, he would have won with significant margin. For these reasons, he has approached the court to set aside Ranaut’s victory in the polls.
The other respondent in this case is the Returning Officer. A decision taken by the High Court acknowledging the importance of nominations in this matter.
