GUWAHATI The Itanagar bench of the Gauhati High Court has declared the candidacy of an Arunachal Pradesh BJP legislator void.
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Dasanglu Pul, the widow of former Chief Minister Kalikho Pul, was elected from the Hayuliang Assembly constituency in 2019.
Hearing a petition filed by her 2019 election opponent, Lupalam Kri, the High Court observed that “the respondent/returned candidate had not presented her nomination paper in accordance with Section 33 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, and, as such, the nomination paper of the respondent/returned candidate is liable to be rejected under Section 36 (2) (a)” of the said Act.
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“Hence, the improper acceptance of the nomination of the respondent/returned candidate by the returning officer, therefore, has materially affected the result of the election of the respondent/returned candidate,” the court said.
Mr. Kri had claimed that Ms. Pul’s candidacy was substantially defective as she concealed the material fact (six properties of her late husband) in Form 26 in the affidavit filed by her. He challenged the election, claiming that the returning officer had improperly accepted Ms. Pul’s candidature despite a written complaint against her.
Ms. Pul may technically no longer be an MLA following the judgement but the court said the ruling can come into effect only after hearing her petition.
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Her affidavit said that she, “under the bona fide belief that in view of the legal heir certificate, the first wife of the late Kalikho Pul, Dangwimsai Pul, is the owner of the properties of the late Kalikho Pul as indicated in the said legal heir certificate”.
“It was due to this bona fide belief that she did not disclose or mention any of those properties in the sworn affidavit in Form 26,” the affidavit read.
Ms. Pul told journalists in Itanagar that she would file a petition challenging the High Court’s judgement on her election.