Admitting the petition filed by BJP candidate Pradeep Sonthalia, the Jharkhand High Court on Wednesday issued a notice to the newly-elected Rajya Sabha member Dheeraj Sahu with a direction to reply within four weeks.
Sonthalia, who lost to Sahu with a short margin of merely 0.01 per cent, has challenged Sahu’s election in the Court demanding his election to the Upper House on March 23, be scrapped.
“The Court of Justice Anant Bijay Singh has issued a notice to Sahu with a direction to reply within four weeks,” said Sonthalia’s Advocate Rajiv Kumar. In the petition, Sonthalia has demanded that the vote cast by JMM MLA Amit Mahto favouring Sahu should be held invalid, as Mahto lost his Assembly membership immediately following his conviction in a case related to manhandling Sonahatu Circle Officer (CO) Alok Kumar and ransacking his office, he added.
The BJP believes that if Mahto’s vote is nullified, Sahu would have to give way to Sonthalia, who lost by a fraction of a vote. Interestingly, Mahto cast his vote at 9.30 am, and was convicted by a Ranchi court around 12.45 pm and sentenced two years’ imprisonment, ultimately losing his Assembly membership immediately as per Supreme Court ruling under section 8 of Representation of People’s Act 1951 and provisions under Section 191 (1)(e) of the Constitution of India.
A three-member delegation headed by State BJP vice-president Aditya Sahu on March 26 also approached the Election Commission of India and handed over a memorandum demanding scrapping of Sahu’s election to the Upper House on March 23.
Making it more interesting, Sahu, in anticipation of BJP approaching the court to challenge his victory, has already filed a caveat before Jharkhand High Court requesting that he should also be heard before deciding on the BJP’s petition.