: In a significant ruling, the Orissa High Court on Thursday dismissed an election petition filed by Aama Odisha Party (AOP) president Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, who had lost to BJD candidate Anubhav Patnaik by a slender margin of 601 votes from Khandapada segment in last year’s Assembly elections.
The AOP chief challenged the election of the BJD candidate urging the High Court to annul the election result as counting of votes in the segment was not taken up properly.
However, Justice B K Nayak observed that the allegations are bereft of material evidence.
