Manipur HC scraps MLA’s election, declares candidate in second position winner

A single bench of justice MV Muralidaran passed the verdict on Thursday on a petition filed by Y Erabot Singh.The petition alleged that Henry had violated the provision of the Representation of People Act 1951 during the nomination process

The Manipur high court has declared the election of Okram Henry Singh from Wangkhei assembly constituency in 2017 assembly elections as null and void over submitting incorrect and incomplete information in affidavit with his nomination papers, and has named Y Erabot Singh, who secured the second place in the elections, as the elected MLA.

Representational Image. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

A single bench of justice MV Muralidaran passed the verdict on Thursday on a petition filed by Y Erabot Singh.The petition alleged that Henry had violated the provision of the Representation of People Act 1951 during the nomination process.

Sources in Imphal said the final hearing in the case was held on March 17 and its judgment was pronounced on April 15.

Henry, 32, contested the assembly election in 2017 as an Indian National Congress candidate and was declared the MLA from Wangkhei constituency after winning the seat with 16,753 votes while Erabot, a Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) candidate, got 12,417 votes.

Later, Henry joined the BJP, resulting in his disqualification as MLA.

In the verdict, the court said that Henry was supposed to provide in the affidavit details of the name of his spouse and dependents, and those of his pending criminal cases and educational qualification.

“... but for reasons best known to him, (he) failed to disclose the said information. Non-disclosure of the material information of the Respondent No. 1 (Henry) amounts to violation of the Representation of Peoples Act, 1951 and rules thereof, and hence his election is fit to be declared as null and void,” it said.

Henry recently moved the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the Election Commission to hold by-poll in Wangkhei constituency. However, the apex court on April 7 told him to approach the state high court.

It may be worth mentioning here that this is the second time the Manipur high court has passed such an order recently.

In a similar case in November last year, the court also declared the election of Y Surchandra from Kakching assembly constituency in 2017 assembly elections as null and void over non-disclosure of information in his election affidavit and named M Rameshwar, who secured the second place in the elections, as the elected MLA. (With agency inputs)