Madhya Pradesh High Court Annuls Election of Congress MLA for Suppressing Pending Criminal Cases, Declares BJP Runner-Up Elected
The Gwalior bench of the Madhya Pradesh high court also declared the BJP candidate Ramniwas Rawat, who was placed second in the by-polls, as elected MLA.
Bhopal: The Madhya Pradesh high court on Monday annulled the election of Mukesh Malhotra, Congress MLA from Vijaypur seat in Sheopur district in the state for not disclosing the pending criminal cases during the 2024 by-polls.
The Gwalior bench of the Madhya Pradesh high court also declared the BJP candidate Ramniwas Rawat, who was placed second in the by-polls, as elected MLA.
Malhotra had won the by-election by defeating the BJP candidate Rawat by a margin of 7,364 votes.
Rawat who had switched over to BJP from Congress barely a couple of weeks before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls had later become a member of the Mohan Yadav cabinet.
He had to step down from his post following his defeat in the Vijaypur by-elections.
Malhotra was in the BJP before the by-elections and joined Congress to contest from the seat as a Congress candidate.
The single bench of Justice GS Ahluwalia has declared the election of Congress MLA Mukesh Malhotra from Vijaypur assembly constituency as ‘null and void’ and declared the second-placed BJP candidate Ramniwas Rawat, as the MLA, the order stated.
The Congress MLA had failed to disclose the pending criminal cases against him while filing nomination for the by-elections, leading to the annulment of his election.
The election commission will be informed on the court verdict, counsel for Rawat, MPS Raghuvamsi said.
With this the strength of BJP in the 230-member Madhya Pradesh assembly has gone up to 164 whereas the strength of Congress has reduced to 63.